Given the green light on a 3-0 pitch, Kellum Clark smoked the baseball through the right side, sending Logan Tanner trotting home from third.
The Mississippi State right fielder followed the RBI single, his first hit of the season, with a two-run home run in the fifth inning Friday against Tulane, a towering shot to right field.
Clark — and the Bulldogs’ offense — had finally gotten going.
No. 9 MSU (6-4) used 17 hits to lay a 19-2 smackdown on the Green Wave (8-2) on Friday in New Orleans in a game not without a major scare.
Bulldogs ace Landon Sims was perfect through 3 2/3 innings, striking out 10 of the 11 batters he faced, before injuring his pitching arm on an 0-1 pitch to Tulane’s Bennett Lee. Sims shook his right wrist after the pitch, called a trainer to the mound and soon departed.
Back in the visitors’ third-base dugout, Sims buried his face in his hands. He pulled his maroon No. 23 jersey over his head, visibly upset.
Sims was in better spirits by the end of the contest, up and active on the dugout rail, but his status remains uncertain. Coach Chris Lemonis told 247Sports that Sims was removed because he didn’t feel right after his final pitch and that the team had no more information on Sims’ status.
But the Bulldogs had no problem backing their injured ace after Sims’ departure. A nine-run fifth capped by Clark’s two-run shot powered the Bulldogs to the lopsided win. Seven players combined for eight hits in the inning alone, with Brad Cumbest — making his first start in center field — accounting for two doubles in the frame.
Tanner had a key two-run single and Cumbest’s second double chased in two more runs before Clark took reliever Turner Thompson deep.
Mississippi State’s offensive explosion came after perhaps the most significant lineup changes Lemonis has made all season, putting first baseman Luke Hancock atop the batting order and sticking freshman Hunter Hines at third base.
On Friday, at least, the shuffled lineup paid dividends.
Hancock went 2 for 5 with two walks, three runs scored and two RBIs, while Hines was 2 for 5 with an opposite-field three-run homer to make it a 6-0 game in the fourth inning. Left fielder Von Seibert, starting his first game, went 2 for 6 with an RBI single in the third.
Three Mississippi State relievers helped keep the Bulldogs far in front, holding a powerful Tulane offense to two runs in the final 5 1/3 innings. Brandon Smith — who screamed at the Green Wave dugout following a key strikeout last season in Starkville — gave up one run over 3 1/3 frames, and Cam Tullar was shaky again with a run allowed in the eighth.
Drew Talley pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out the side, to close out the victory.
Mississippi State put up a season-high in hits and runs and will hope to carry over some of its offense into Saturday’s game, which starts at 2 p.m. But until MSU knows more, Sims’ status will surely weigh heavily on the Bulldogs’ minds.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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