COLUMBIA, S.C. — Asked what contributed to the Mississippi State baseball team’s productive early offense during this weekend’s series at South Carolina, coach Chris Lemonis had a ready answer.
“Because Rowdey (Jordan) and Tanner (Allen) hit first,” Lemonis said.
The duo of outfielders followed up Friday’s 5-for-7 performance with a 6-for-8 afternoon, helping the No. 4 Bulldogs (35-10, 16-7 Southeastern Conference) jump out in front for the second straight game in a 9-6 win over the No. 19 Gamecocks (27-17, 11-12) on Saturday in Columbia, South Carolina.
“Those guys have gotten us off to a good start the last couple weeks,” Lemonis said. “They’re locked in pretty much and give us a chance to score. They’re just playing well right now.”
Jordan went 2 for 3 with a home run and scored three times Saturday, and Allen was 4 for 5 with a triple and three base hits. The pair has reached base a combined 16 of 21 times in the series.
On Saturday, they kickstarted another first-inning rally for the Bulldogs. Jordan singled off South Carolina’s Will Sanders on the game’s first pitch, Allen tripled to right center field on the third one he saw, and Luke Hancock crushed a two-run home run one batter later as Mississippi State rocketed to an early 3-0 lead.
And the way sophomore Will Bednar was pitching, that almost would have been enough. Bednar struck out a career-high 13 Gamecocks across six innings of work, but a pair of home runs by Andrew Eyster and Wes Clarke marred his night.
Bednar pointed to his effective change-up against South Carolina’s two left-handed batters, designated hitter Josiah Sightler and left fielder Noah Myers, as a big part of his strong outing.
“I was able to throw a few good ones and really feel good about how today went,” he said.
And instead of leaving the mound at Founders Park in a tie game, he was staked to a considerable lead because the Bulldogs continued to mash South Carolina pitching.
Catcher Logan Tanner and Jordan homered as Mississippi State scored at least one run in each of the first five innings, bookended by the aforementioned three-run first and a three-run fifth. Allen’s two-run single with the bases loaded put the Bulldogs up 9-3.
“I think us hitting the way we are right now just shows how much talent we have in the lineup,” Jordan said.
The Bulldogs needed almost all that offense when a pair of errors in the seventh inning led to another three-run bomb from the Gamecocks. Shortstop Lane Forsythe and first baseman Luke Hancock misconnected twice in the inning, the first due to a drop by Hancock and the second thanks to a high throw from Forsythe. Eyster made reliever Brandon Smith pay with his second homer of the game, a blast to right-center that cut the lead to three runs.
“We’ve got to make plays,” Lemonis said. “We’ve talked all weekend about stuffing them and not giving them any opportunities to score.”
But when Landon Sims trotted onto the mound to begin the eighth, it was all but clear no more such opportunities would be on the horizon.
Sims didn’t bring his normal wipeout breaking ball on the trip, but it didn’t seem to matter. He struck out two Gamecocks in the eighth, working around a two-out walk, and he retired South Carolina 1-2-3 in the ninth as the Bulldogs won their fifth straight conference game.
Bednar said clinching at least a series win was important but that the Bulldogs can’t relax yet with not only a sweep on the line but plenty of baseball to go down the road. First pitch Sunday will be at 1 p.m.
“We feel great,” he said. “We’ve still got more to do. We’ve still got the rest of the season to finish up. We’re pretty happy with how we’ve been playing, but we’re not done yet.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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