STARKVILLE – Mississippi State baseball got back into the win column on Thursday, taking Game One of a weekend series against Lipscomb.
The teams were set to start the series on Friday night, but the first game was moved up in anticipation of bad weather on Saturday and Sunday.
It was a strong start to the game by both pitchers. MSU sophomore Ryan McPherson continued to show why he’s the Game One starter with eight strikeouts and five hits through six innings of work.
Lipscomb’s Alexander Llinas tossed five innings and allowed just three hits until things started to come apart in the sixth inning. He entered the bottom half with a 1-0 lead after the Bisons got on the board first in the top half. Blake Carter, who has at least one hit in all but one of Lipscomb’s 12 games, drove in the opening run, but woke up the Bulldog batters in the process.
Drew Wyers quickly brought the score level again with a solo home run to lead off the bottom half of the sixth, followed by a double from Ace Reese and a single from Noah Sullivan. The visitors went to the bullpen to stop the bleeding, but the very next at bat saw Gehrig Frei drive in Reese, and then an error fielding a bunt from Chone James saw two more runners get home. Vytas Valincius would add one more
The seventh inning almost got tricky for reliever Maddox Webb, who loaded up the bases before recording a pair of punchouts to get out of a jam. The bottom half saw another Wyers solo shot to lead things off. Reese followed with a hit of his own, but the run stopped there.
The visitors added two more in the eighth with a drive to deep left bouncing off the wall. Valincius nearly got there but didn’t track the flight of the ball well enough to make the catch. Ben Davis came on in relief of Webb to stop any more runs and the Bulldogs were able to tack on two more runs in reply to wrap up an 8-3 victory.
Game Two will begin on Friday at 6 p.m.
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