Jordan homers, James drives in four runs in support of MacLeod’s 11 strikeouts
STARKVILLE – Starting pitcher Christian MacLeod fanned 11 to hold the Kentucky bats at bay, as the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program opened the three-game series with an 8-1 victory over the No. 21 Wildcats on Thursday (April 1) at Dudy Noble Field.
The four Mississippi State (18-7, 3-4 SEC) pitchers combined to strike out 15 Kentucky (18-5, 5-2 SEC) batters, allow five hits and walk three batters and only an unearned run in the seventh spoiled the shutout bid. The 15 punchouts mark the 20th time in 25 games MSU has fanned double-digit hitters and is the fifth straight game with 13-plus strikeouts. It is also the 11th time in 2021 that MSU has struck out at least 10 batters and walked three-or-fewer in a game.
MacLeod (3-2) piled up his 11 strikeouts over six innings of work to earn his second SEC victory. He didn’t walk a batter and allowed just two hits, with no base runner reaching third base. MacLeod retired 12 straight batters between the second inning and the sixth inning and struck out at least one batter in all six innings – including multiple strikeouts in his final four innings.
Brandon Smith fanned two batters and allowed one unearned run over 1 2/3 innings of work. Houston Harding retired the only batter he faced and Stone Simmons allowed a pair of base runners but struck out two batters to account for a scoreless ninth inning.
Kamren James went 2-for-4 with four RBIs, including the final three runs with a three-RBI double in the eighth inning. Rowdey Jordan hit his third home run of the season, drove in two RBIs and scored three times in the game. Jordan was also hit-by-pitch twice and moved his reached base streak to 10 games.
Luke Hancock pushed his reached base streak to 14 straight games with a walk. The sophomore added two sacrifice flies to account for the first two runs of the game. Scotty Dubrule singled, walked and scored twice, while Lane Forsythe was hit-by-pitch and singled.
Kentucky was led by Coltyn Kessler’s 3-for-4 night at the plate, while. Austin Schultz and Ryan Ritter each singled to account for the Wildcats’ five hits. Ryan Hagenow (1-1) made his first SEC start and allowed three runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings of work. He walked three and struck out five in the loss.
Quotable
Head coach Chris Lemonis
On what he wanted to see from his team in the series opener
CL: I really challenged them before today’s game. I told them that we’ll learn a lot about ourselves because if you’re going to play in this league then you’ve got to be able to handle the adversity. You’ve got to be able to fight back. You’ve got to have a real belief in yourself as a player.
Scoring Recap
Bottom First
Brayland Skinner began the inning with a double down the left field line. Rowdey Jordan was hit-by-pitch before Tanner Allen walked to load the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly out to right center by Luke Hancock scored the first run of the night.
Mississippi State 1, Kentucky 0
Bottom Third
Jordan was hit-by-pitch and advanced to third on a single by Kamren James. Jordan scored on Hancock’s second sacrifice fly of the evening.
Mississippi State 2, Kentucky 0
Bottom Fourth
Scotty Dubrule reached on a walk, advanced to second on a hit-by-pitch and third on a fly out. After Allen was hit-by-pitch to load the bases, James walked to push a run across.
Mississippi State 3, Kentucky 0
Bottom Sixth
Jordan hit his third home run of the season – a solo home run – to right field with one out.
Mississippi State 4, Kentucky 0
Top Seventh
T.J. Collett reached on a fielding error and advanced on a single by Coltyn Kessler. After Reuben Church walked, Collett scored on a wild pitch.
Mississippi State 4, Kentucky 1
Bottom Eighth
Dubrule singled to shortstop and advanced on a sacrifice bunt before Skinner reached on a fielding error to put runners on the corners. Jordan also reached on a fielding error, this time, to score one. Allen walked to load the bases before a James’ double to left center brought all three base runners in.
Mississippi State 8, Kentucky 1
Up Next
The Bulldogs and Wildcats will meet for the middle game in the series on Friday, April 2 at Dudy Noble Field. First pitch will be thrown at 6 p.m. on the SEC Network.