STARKVILLE — Senior left-hander Lucas Laster threw Mississippi State’s second complete game in three games Tuesday night to lead MSU to a 5-2 victory against Eastern Illinois at Dudy Noble Field.
Laster (3-0), who threw his first career complete game, allowed eight hits and two runs (both earned) while matching a season high with seven strikeouts and no walks. The Bulldogs have recorded three quality starts in their past four games.
MSU starting pitchers have thrown six or more innings in each of the past four games, the longest streak since Feb. 25-March 1, 2011, when Devin Jones, Chris Stratton, Evan Mitchell, and Kendall Graveman accomplished the feat.
The Bulldogs completed their season-opening 23-game homestand with a 17-6 record.
MSU erased a 1-0 deficit by scoring four runs in the third inning.
After a strikeout, Cody Brown walked, Brent Rooker was hit by a pitch, and Jacob Robson walked. West Rea cleared the bases with a double to left-center field. Reid Humphreys followed with an RBI double.
The Bulldogs increased the lead in the fifth when Robson walked, stole two bases, and scored on a balk.
MSU had seven hits. Rea and Robson had multiple hits.
Eastern Illinois (0-14) had eight hits and made the game’s only error. Brent Valach was the squad’s lone multiple hitter.
MSU will take its first road trip of the season this weekend when it travels to Lexington, Kentucky to take on Kentucky. The teams will play Game 1 at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Game 2 will be at 1 p.m. Saturday. Game 3 will be at noon Sunday. All of the games will be available on SEC Network +.
n Alabama 8, Samford 6: At Hoover, Alabama, Freshman Jake Walters struck out a season-high nine in his first career start to lead the Crimson Tide to their victory at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Walters allowed two hits and walked only two in five innings to help Alabama improve to 12-7.
“I thought Jake did a great job, and he had five really clean innings and piled up the strikeouts early,” Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. “Samford is a good offensive team and has been for a long time, so it was good to get the win tonight.”
Casey Hughston had his team-leading fourth home run of the season to spark a 13-hit attack.
Shortstop Mikey White broke the game open in the bottom fifth, emptying the bases with a three-run triple to push Alabama’s lead to 4-0. Hughston followed with an RBI single to left, ahead of Chance Vincent’s RBI hit to cap the Tide’s five-run inning.
White was 3-for-4 with a team-high four RBIs and two runs scored. Hughston was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
n In related news, Alabama and Alabama A&M’s doubleheader has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 5. Game 1 will start at 1 p.m. Game 2 will begin 30 minutes after the completion of Game 1.
n Southern Mississippi 6, New Orleans 5, 11 innings: At Hattiesburg, Breck Kline delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning to lead the Golden Eagles to their victory at Maestri Field.
The Golden Eagles (12-7-1) won for the third-straight time and split the season series with the Privateers with the victory. Southern Miss also improved to 2-0 this season in extra-inning games.
Taylor Braley led Southern Miss with three hits. Austin Roussel added two hits, but it was three sacrifice flies for Southern Miss that proved to be the difference.
Ryan Milton threw 1 2/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits for his first victory. Connor O’Brien, the Golden Eagles’ fifth pitcher, allowed one hit for his first save.
n Ole Miss will play host to Arkansas Pine-Bluff: At Oxford, the Ole Miss baseball team will play host to Arkansas-Pine Bluff (6-8) at 3 p.m. today at Swayze Field. The time of the game was moved up due to anticipated inclement weather.
Ole Miss (10-9) is expected to start sophomore left-hander Evan Anderson (1-2, 700 ERA) today. The Rebels are coming off a 2-3 last week in which they beat then-No. 8 Louisville and then-No. 1 LSU. The Tigers, though, took two of three games in the weekend series.
Ole Miss is 3-5 this season against top-15 teams.
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