STARKVILLE — With Mississippi State clinging to a one-run lead in a game that never felt secure, Tyson Hardin stood on the mound in the top of the eighth inning with the tying run just 90 feet away.
Hardin, who had the Bulldogs’ worst ERA last season but is now one of MSU’s top high-leverage relievers, was in a battle with Missouri’s Matt Garcia. The Tigers’ second baseman fouled off three straight pitches to extend the plate appearance to its seventh pitch, but on the third 2-2 offering, Hardin painted a sinker at the knees on the outside corner, and Garcia could only watch it dart past him for a called third strike.
Following another quality start from ace Khal Stephen, the back of the Bulldogs’ bullpen came through again Thursday night as Hardin and left-hander Tyler Davis held Missouri scoreless over the final three innings of MSU’s 4-3 victory.
“We have a lot of guys. We have to have our trust in everyone,” Hardin said. “Our bullpen is really elite. We all know that down there, and our starters know that. It’s easy to do when the starters do their job. When they give it to us, they have a lot of confidence.”
The Bulldogs (35-18, 16-12 Southeastern Conference) could never pull away from the Tigers (22-31, 8-20) in the series opener but did just enough offensively. Amani Larry opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, his sixth of the season, and MSU added one more an inning later when Bryce Chance tripled and scored on David Mershon’s sharply-hit ground ball to shortstop.
Chance, who has settled into the leadoff spot over the last 12 games, came through again in the fifth when he golfed an 0-2 breaking ball that kept on carrying and landed just beyond the left-field fence for his sixth homer of the year.
“I love being in the leadoff spot. It’s fun to be able to swing at the first pitch of the game,” Chance said. “Having the heart of the order behind you is something that’s also really fun. You know you’re going to get a good pitch to hit. I didn’t think the ball was getting out tonight. I was honestly trying to fight it off. I didn’t know if it was going to be a strike or not; it was kind of borderline. And then I just stayed in my legs and got it up in the wind and it got out.”
Stephen was sharp through the first three innings but made his first mistake in the fourth, when Danny Corona led off with a long home run over the wall in right. Chance’s long ball put the Bulldogs back up by two, but Missouri’s two best hitters, Trevor Austin and Jackson Lovich, went deep on back-to-back pitches to start the sixth, and all of a sudden the game was tied.
The Purdue transfer retired the next three batters to end his outing and his regular season. Stephen struck out eight and walked just one, and will head into the SEC Tournament with a 3.25 ERA, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 5-to-1 and a .214 batting average against across 83 innings.
“He was pissed he had to come out,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. “We just made a decision there to do everything we could to keep the ball in the ballpark.”
The Bulldogs used some good fortune to take the lead back in the bottom of the sixth. Larry drew a one-out walk and stole second — he was initially called out, but ruled safe after a review — and then with two outs, Joe Powell’s pop fly in shallow center dropped in among three Tigers to score Larry with the go-ahead run. Powell, who was 4-for-4 with three home runs in Tuesday night’s win over North Alabama, has now hit safely in his last six at-bats.
From there, it was up to the bullpen. Hardin struck out the first two batters he faced in the seventh before a double and a walk put two runners on for the dangerous Austin, but Hardin won the battle, retiring Austin on a ground ball to third. A walk, a passed ball and a grounder to the right side put a runner at third in the eighth before Hardin struck out Garcia to keep MSU in front.
Davis worked around a two-out single in the ninth, striking out three for his fourth save. Bulldogs pitchers recorded 15 strikeouts in total.
“I thought (Davis) was great. He pretty much threw every pitch he wanted to,” Lemonis said. “Tyson was good, not great. He got behind on some guys. I give him a lot of credit for competing because he couldn’t find it at first. He was behind some hitters and just sinking that ball right into the plate almost, but he found it. Maybe in the past, he gives in a little bit, but he came back on two hitters, got the hitters out and then rolled through the inning.”
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