STARKVILLE — With Mississippi State struggling to figure out Missouri State starting pitcher Jackson Holmes, head coach Chris Lemonis pinch-hit for catcher Joe Powell to lead off the fifth inning of a tie game Saturday.
Lemonis sent up Reed Stallman, a transfer from Campbell whose lone hit so far in a Bulldogs uniform had been a home run. After taking a strike and fouling off a pitch, Stallman stayed back on Holmes’ 0-2 offering and hit a sharp opposite-field drive to left that just snuck over the fence inside the foul pole.
The solo shot gave Mississippi State the lead for good, and the Bulldogs broke it open later in the inning on Ace Reese’s three-run triple — which also came on an 0-2 count. Despite issuing nine walks, the pitching staff held the Bears in check and the No. 18 Bulldogs earned a 9-3 win to clinch the series. They will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.
“A lot of it is just about competing with two strikes and putting it in play,” Lemonis said. “They spend a lot of time on it. It’s always been a big thing here, and we’ll be really good with two strikes.”
Noah Sullivan, who delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the eighth in Friday’s win, picked up right where he left off with an RBI double to the left-center gap to open the scoring in the first. Holmes, who struggled mightily in his first start of the season against Sam Houston State, settled down for a while after that, holding the Bulldogs (5-1) to just two singles with three strikeouts over the next three innings.
Missouri State (2-3) tied things up without a hit in the third, taking advantage of two walks and a passed ball against Karson Ligon. Ligon labored through three innings, throwing 66 pitches but holding the Bears to just the one unearned run. Shortstop Dylan Cupp made nice defensive plays charging in on ground balls to end the second, third and fourth innings.
“That is a little bit more (walks) for us than normal,” Lemonis said. “Dylan Cupp made a couple nice plays to get us off the field in some of those jams. We should be a little more focused (on the mound). When you see Karson pitch, you’re going to see some more walks, but everyone else, a little uncharacteristic.”
Freshman Ryan McPherson walked three batters of his own, but managed to get through three scoreless innings and earned the win thanks to the Bulldogs’ fifth-inning rally. Making his second appearance of the year, McPherson ended his outing with a sharp breaking ball for a called third strike on Missouri State’s leadoff hitter, Caden Bogenpohl.
“I felt great. I know I have a really good defensive team behind me,” McPherson said. “I have confidence in my pitches, and even if they hit it, I know anyone in the outfield is going to be able to get it. Same thing with ground balls, whatever it is.”
The Bulldogs appeared to have Holmes on the ropes after Cupp followed Stallman’s homer with a double, but Holmes bounced back to retire Lukas Buckner and Ross Highfill before a walk to Hunter Hines ended his day. Reliever Kaleb Thomas walked Sullivan, and then Reese swung at a curveball that stayed out over the plate and smoked it off the center-field wall to bring all three baserunners home.
Reese entered Saturday hitless since going 2-for-3 with a homer in the first game of the season, but after being moved down from third to fifth in the lineup, he showed flashes of the player that was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2024 at Houston.
“I’m definitely off to a slower start than I wanted to be,” Reese said. “Getting pitched to away, I’m trying to go (opposite field) and get a little more under it. But it’s definitely starting to come the way it’s supposed to come.”
Ben Davis, Nate Williams and Mikhai Grant each worked an inning of relief, with Williams retiring the bottom of the Bears’ lineup in order. Davis and Grant both allowed a run but prevented the big inning.
Buckner beat out an infield hit in the seventh for the first RBI of his college career, and Sullivan, Reese and Bryce Chance all had multi-hit games.
“I still think we can do better,” Lemonis said. “Getting Ross going, getting Hunter going, getting Ace going, getting the middle of that lineup, because they’re really talented. We’ve all seen it before. Just have to get them going.”
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