STARKVILLE – After dropping the series’ first contest to South Carolina on Friday night, Mississippi State responded by slugging its way to an 11-4 victory on Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs wasted no time scoring runs and garnering early momentum, as senior Noah Sullivan blasted a two-run home run to the left-field lounge in the bottom of the first inning. From there, it was all Diamond Dawgs as MSU outhit the Gamecocks 12-5 to even the series.
“I thought they responded. I thought there were some big swings,” head coach Chris Lemonis said. “Noah (Sullivan) and Ace (Reese) in the first. Joe Powell’s (double) really opened it up and gave us a chance to breathe a little bit. I thought we had the ability to kind of separate ourselves from them as the game went along.”
Sullivan, Reese and Powell were not the only players to make an impact at the plate for MSU in the contest, as sophomore Dylan Cupp added to MSU’s five home runs with his first career homer in the bottom of the sixth.
MSU held an 8-4 lead after Cupp’s homer, then Reese launched his second home run of the contest to make it a five-run lead over the Gamecocks in Game 2. Reese leads the program with 11 home runs this season, and his multi-homer game marks the third time he has accomplished that feat in his sophomore year.
“It’s been huge,” Lemonis said regarding the addition of Reese. “He has a tendency to get big hits in big moments. When he hits, it helps us when games. Some guys get them when the score’s big and his are usually when the game’s on the line. I thought he had a couple of big ones. The base hit in the first, I thought was huge. Just to get us going.”
The starting lineup’s potential at the plate shined bright in the victory and is something that Reese and the Diamond Dawgs aim to maintain as the program heads into Sunday’s rubber match against South Carolina.
“We’ve been capable of it the whole year,” Reese said. “It’s just nice to get it going.”
While the Bulldogs brought the bats warmed and ready to make an impact, the pitching staff was just as eager to make a mark in the contest.
Junior righthander Evan Siary started the game by recording five strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched on the mound, before senior righty Chase Hungate jogged in relief in the fifth inning.
Hungate shut down South Carolina’s attempt to charge back into the contest by allowing no hits, no runs and striking out four Gamecocks in 4.2 innings of work.
“I think I executed pretty well. I tip my hat to the defense behind me,” Hungate said. “They made a lot of great plays and made it a lot easier to pitch. That kind of boosted my confidence and allowed me to attack the zone a lot better.”
As the program gears up for the rubber match against the Gamecocks at 1 p.m. Sunday at Dudy Noble Field, the Bulldogs’ mentality is to shake off the struggles and return ready to compete to close out the fourth conference series of this year’s campaign.
“This is a great team. We’ve just had our struggles,” Hungate said. “When we come together, which we did today, you see the results.”
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