No. 4 Mississippi State Baseball Rolls Past Southern, 15-1

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Cumbest, Jordan and Pimentel each homer in midweek victory over Southern

STARKVILLE – A 15-run outburst and 17 strikeouts from the pitching staff helped the No. 4 Mississippi State baseball program to a 15-1 victory over Southern on Tuesday (April 6) at Dudy Noble Field.

Eleven Mississippi State (21-7) hitters collected hits and seven pitchers struck out multiple  Southern (10-15) hitters to remain perfect in midweek tilts in 2021. 

Overall, 14 Diamond Dawgs reached base and Mississippi State piled up 16 hits. Of the 16 hits, seven went for extra bases, highlighted by three home runs, and four Dawgs collected multi-hit games. Nine different MSU hitters collected RBIs and the Maroon and White also stole seven bases, including three by Tanner Leggett

Rowdey Jordan posted a three-hit game with three runs scored and two RBIs, including his fourth home run of the season in the fifth inning. Brad Cumbest and Brandon Pimentel each went 2-for-2 off the bench and smacked their first home runs of the year. Leggett was on base three times with two hits, one walk and two runs scored to go along with the aforementioned three stolen bases.

Of the nine pitchers that took the mound on Tuesday, each of them completed an inning of work and none faced more than six batters. Eight posted at least one strikeout and they combined to scatter seven hits and allow just one run.

Carlisle Koestler (3-0) made the start and got the victory with one scoreless frame and one hit allowed. Mikey Tepper and Eric Cerantola each struck out three batters in their inning of work, while Cade Smith fanned two batters in his collegiate debut.

Quotable

Head coach Chris Lemonis

On his assessment of the game

CL: I was very pleased. I wish we would have swung [the bats] a little earlier, but we had some good at-bats. I thought the guys that came off the bench gave us some better at-bats, actually. They were ready and jumped on some balls. I like the fact that we put a zero in the error column and that our nine pitchers went out and pretty much threw strikes and competed.

Scoring Recap

Bottom First

Rowdey Jordan bunted for a base hit on the first pitch of the inning, advanced on a throwing error, and stole third base before he scored on a wild pitch. 

Mississippi State 1, Southern 0

Bottom Second

Tanner Leggett singled to third base and eventually scored on a passed ball.

Mississippi State 2, Southern 0

Bottom Fourth

Jordan singled and advanced to third on a Tanner Allen double to left field before scoring on Kamren James’ ground out.

Mississippi State 3, Southern 0

Bottom Fifth

Leggett singled and stole second and third before Clark’s walk put runners on the corners. Forsythe reached on a dropped flyball and advanced to third, allowing Clark and Leggett to score. A two-run home run from Jordan capped the inning. 

Mississippi State 7, Southern 0

Top Sixth

Jonathan Evans singled to right field and stole second base before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Evans scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Green. 

Mississippi State 7, Southern 1

Bottom Sixth

Davis Meche reached on an error to start the inning before scoring on Kace Garner’s double through the left side. A single for Brad Cumbest was followed by an RBI base hit up the middle by Brandon Pimentel. Scotty Dubrule, Forsythe and Brayland Skinner each followed with RBI singles. Drew McGowan reached on a fielder’s choice to plate the last run of the inning. 

Mississippi State 13, Southern 1

Bottom Seventh

Cumbest and Pimentel hit back-to-back home runs, each their first of the season, to cap the scoring. 

Mississippi State 15, Southern 1

Up Next

No. 4 Mississippi State will hit the road for an SEC series on The Plains against Auburn. The series will kick off at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 9, before a Saturday 2 p.m. first pitch. The Sunday, April 11, series finale will take place at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network.