No. 2 Diamond Dawgs Shutout South Carolina in Series Opener

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MacLeod fires seven shutout innings to help MSU blank South Carolina in series opener

COLUMBIA, S.C. – For the ninth time in 2021, the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program opened a series with a victory, as Christian MacLeod cruised through seven innings and the offense was clicking in a 9-0 victory over No. 12 South Carolina on Friday (May 7) at Founders Park.

Mississippi State (34-10, 15-7 SEC) scored twice in the first, once in the fifth, five times in the seventh and once in the eighth to build a 9-0 lead. The trio of Christian MacLeodPreston Johnson and KC Hunt combined to allow just three hits and shut out the potent South Carolina (27-16, 11-11 SEC) offense to win the series opener for the sixth time in eight SEC series.

The series opener win gives MSU 11 wins over top 25 teams and the 15th victory in Southeastern Conference play locks up a spot in the SEC Tournament with eight conference games remaining. The shutout is the sixth of the season for MSU in 2021.

MacLeod (4-3) picked up the win with a career-best seven innings of work and allowed just three base runners. The left-hander struck out six and retired the final 11 batters he faced. MacLeod allowed a single and a walk in the third and then issued a one-out walk in the fourth before sitting down the next 11 batters.


Offensively, four Diamond Dawgs posted multi-hit games, as MSU posted 12 hits and walked six times in the game. Rowdy Jordan moved his reached base streak to 29 games with a 2-for-3 night at the plate and four runs scored. Jordan also walked twice in the game.

Tanner Allen moved his hitting streak to seven games with his 20th multi-hit game of the year and chipped in two RBIs for his 13th multi-RBI contest in 2021, both which lead the team. Kamren James plated at least one RBI for the 21st time this season with his third four-RBI of the season. The right-handed hitter was 3-for-4 with one walk and one run scored. Lane Forsythe posted his second-straight multi-hit game with a pair of singles.

Three different Gamecocks collected singled in the game, with Noah Myers the only Gamecock hitter to reach base twice – once via hit and once via walk.  Brannon Jordan (4-4) allowed three runs in six innings of work in the loss.

Quotable

Head coach Chris Lemonis

On the series-opening victory

CL: I’m really satisfied. I thought we were good Wednesday night [against The Citadel]. We played a pretty complete game. Tonight, obviously better competition, but we’re playing pretty clean right now. I thought we got a great start from Christian [MacLeod]. We had some really competitive at bats. [Brannon Jordan] has pitched really well for them all year and we were able to get a lot of hits off of him and he hadn’t given up many hits all year. We’re playing pretty well right now.

On Christian MacLeod

CL: He was able to mix those two off-speed pitches all night, having his curve and his change were big for him. He was able to keep them guessing all night. I don’t think there was a lot of hard contact. He had a good week of work. I think he was coming out and wanted to pitch well [after last weekend]. I’ve seen a little bit of a different Christian lately. “Hey, I’m going to go out there and pitch and give us a great chance to win”. He did that tonight.

On Kamren James’ night

CL: It was huge because in this ballpark and the way they hit, they’ve got some home run hitters over there. You can walk a guy or make an error, [let if they] hit a homer and next thing you know, you’re scrambling, and they’ve got all the momentum. When Kam got that hit, it separated the game enough to where you can take a breath.

Scoring Recap

Top First

Following a leadoff single by Rowdey Jordan, a base hit for Tanner Allen put runners on the corners before Kamren James singled to plate one. Allen scored on a double play one batter later. 

Mississippi State 2, South Carolina 0

Top Fifth

Jordan doubled down the right field line and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Allen’s single.

Mississippi State 3, South Carolina 0

Top Seventh

A single by Lane Forsythe, walk for Jordan, and hit-by-pitch for Allen loaded the bases for the Bulldogs. With no outs, James doubled down the right field line to score the trio. Scotty Dubrule walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball, that scored James. A double by Brad Cumbest brought in the fifth run of the inning. 

Mississippi State 8, South Carolina 0

Top Eighth

Jordan walked and advanced on a wild pitch before an Allen single through the right side plated one to cap the scoring.

Mississippi State 9, South Carolina 0

Up Next

Mississippi State will continue its four-game road swing through the Palmetto State with a three-game series at No. 12 South Carolina this weekend. The series kicks off at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, May 7 and will conclude with a nationally televised contest at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 9 on the SEC Network.

— HailState.com —

A single by Lane Forsythe, walk for Jordan, and hit-by-pitch for Allen loaded the bases for the Bulldogs. With no outs, James doubled down the right field line to score the trio. Scotty Dubrule walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball that scored James. A double by Brad Cumbest brought in the last run for the inning. 

Mississippi State 8, South Carolina 0

Top Eighth

Jordan walked and advanced on a wild pitch before an Allen single through the right side plated one to cap the scoring for the game.

Mississippi State 9, South Carolina 0

Up Next

Mississippi State will continue its four-game road swing through the Palmetto State with a three-game series at No. 12 South Carolina this weekend. The series kicks off at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, May 7 and will conclude with a nationally televised contest at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 9 on the SEC Network.