STARKVILLE — There seemed to be no hangover from Saturday night’s record-setting night at Dudy Noble Field on Sunday as Mississippi State baseball led 3-1 in the seventh inning.
A second-straight Southeastern Conference series win was well-within grasp, only until Ole Miss tied things up at 3-3, forcing the hand again for Mississippi State late-innings magic.
The Bulldogs got Hunter Hines’ at-bat in the bottom-half, sailing a two-run homer over the Bulldog faithful in right field.
It was perfect timing, and reliever Aaron Nixon took care of the rest in a 5-3 win on Sunday and a seventh-straight series win for Mississippi State over the Rebels.
“Yeah, I was looking for a breaking ball,” Hines said. “He had just thrown [Colton] Ledbetter five or six in a row, mostly sliders to left-handed hitters, so I made an adjustment in the box and sat on it.”
Hines has fared well in his career against Ole Miss, with Sunday’s two-run shot now giving him five homers against the Rebels in seven games.
The sophomore relished in the opportunity offensively, hitting a homer on Saturday as well, and he was one of two Mississippi State (22-15, 5-10 SEC) players with a homer in Sunday’s win.
Dakota Jordan, Saturday’s hero, hit the other, a three-run shot that traveled 420 feet to the opposite field in the third inning.
“It helps to have good guys in front of you and behind you,” Hines said. “I’m just lucky to be in the middle … It’s hard to pitch to our lineup when we’re rolling.”
The raucous atmosphere of the headline series of Super Bulldog Weekend brought the noise and intensity once again in the series finale, with 12,824 in attendance, setting a new NCAA weekend series on-campus attendance record of 43,986.
It made all the difference after Ole Miss (20-16, 3-12 SEC) tied things up, with Nixon working out of a massive jam as shortstop David Mershon turned an unassisted double play in the seventh, limiting the damage to one after KC Hunt loaded the bases with one out.
“I see our infield day in, day out, getting work in, especially over the last few weeks, just really getting after it in practice,” Nixon said. “I had a lot of confidence in there, trying to get a ground ball, trying to get out of it.”
All three games over the weekend saw the Bulldogs go down, needing a late comeback to turn things around, and those comeback wins came in the final two games of the series.
Pitching has been a strong suit in recent weeks, and freshman starter Jurrangelo Cijntje made the most of his outing, striking out seven in 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and one run.
That set the tone and Mississippi State didn’t miss a step from there.
“We’ve talked a lot about pounding the strike zone and those guys did it,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said. “ … [Cijntje] has just been working. We gave him an extra day this week … Today was a big outing and he was just a lot more composed.”
A nightmare start to conference play has now seen Mississippi State win two-straight series, including the biggest one of the season to date, and the attention now turns to next weekend, a trip to Auburn.
“It just builds momentum,” Lemonis said. “We need it conference play-wise. We need to get every game we can back.”
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