College baseball roundup: Bulldogs break out bats, Rebels and USM finish easy sweeps
Published 9:08 pm Sunday, February 20, 2022
- Mississippi State baseball players Aaron Downs and Bryce Chance celebrate during a 12-4 win over Long Beach State Sunday in Starkville. (Sloane Bush/Mississippi State Athletics)
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State finally cleaned things up after two days of dealing with the Dirtbags.
Former Central Hinds Academy star Tanner Leggett and Matt Corder both homered, and Mississippi State broke out for 16 hits as it beat Long Beach State 12-4 on Sunday.
Mississippi State was outscored 16-3 and totaled 10 hits while losing the first two games of the three-game, season-opening series at Dudy Noble Field.
Corder went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored on Sunday, and Logan Tanner had two hits and scored twice. Drew McGowan also had two hits and two RBIs.
Corder’s two-run home run in the second inning helped the Bulldogs to an early 3-0 lead, and then they blew it open with seven runs in the fifth inning. Hunter Hines and McGowan each hit a two-run single during the big rally.
Cade Smith allowed one hit and one run in 5 2/3 innings pitched to get the win. He finished with six strikeouts.
Ole Miss 12, Charleston Southern 2
Kevin Graham singled in two runs and Kemp Alderman hit a three-run home run during an eight-run rally in the fifth inning that propelled Ole Miss (3-0) past Charleston Southern (0-3) on Sunday.
Graham finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs, and Alderman was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored for the Rebels. Graham’s single drove in the first two runs in the big fifth inning and made it 5-1. Alderman’s homer capped it off and put them ahead 11-1.
Four Ole Miss pitchers combined to allow just four hits while striking out 10 batters. Starter Drew McDaniel pitched 3 2/3 innings and was credited with the win.
Ole Miss swept the season-opening series in Oxford by outscoring Charleston Southern 32-6. The last two games both ended early because of college baseball’s mercy rule.
Southern Miss 14, North Alabama 1
Blake Johnson and Slade Wilks combined to drive in nine runs, while starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep fanned 11 batters over 5 1/3 innings to help Southern Miss complete a three-game sweep of North Alabama.
The Golden Eagles (3-0) scored three runs in four separate innings on Sunday, and two more in one more frame, as they outscored the Lions 29-5 in the series.
Danny Lynch added two hits to extend his hitting streak to 14 games dating back to last season. Reece Ewing also had a pair of hits and an RBI.
Waldrep limited the Lions to three hits and fanned seven batters at one point, and the first nine outs were recorded via a strikeout. He walked one and gave up his only run on an RBI single to Drew Hudson in the fifth. Five relievers followed him to split up the last 3 2/3 innings.
After drawing 4,860 fans for the Sunday contest, the Golden Eagles drew 14,006 for the three-game series, marking the second-highest opening weekend attendance in the school’s history.