STARKVILLE — All it took was a soft ground ball to second base.

Senior right fielder Carter Spexarth delivered the first Mississippi State run of Wednesday’s home game against Southern Miss with a chopper to the right side in the first inning at Nusz Park. Senior designated player Mia Davidson raced home for the first run of the ballgame, and the Bulldogs had an early 1-0 lead.

“That’s something we work on,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “It’s a team at-bat. Nothing flashy in the books, but it’s getting the job done and getting a way to get some runners across with what our game plan is.”

Spexarth’s RBI groundout was an early sign the Bulldogs have improved in small-ball situations in recent days, and it foreshadowed more success when MSU came to bat in the bottom of the eighth in a 2-2 ballgame.

Sophomore second baseman Paige Cook led off with a single, and junior catcher Jackie McKenna bunted her to second. Cook moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on sophomore shortstop Madisyn Kennedy’s bloop single to left field.

Once again, Mississippi State’s revamped offensive strategy had paid off in a 3-2 extra-inning win for the Bulldogs (22-16) against the Golden Eagles (20-19) in Starkville.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for the past few weeks — just being a little bit better at the small ball and having team at-bats to not try to put too much pressure on ourselves or take too big of swings at the plate,” Ricketts said.

For the second straight home midweek game, that came with the bottom of the lineup at the plate. Last Wednesday against Central Arkansas, Cook poked a grounder of her own to the right side to score pinch-runner Allison Florian for the walk-off win. This time, Cook’s leadoff chopper snuck over the head of Southern Miss first baseman Jamie Powell and into right field. She went station to station on the bunt and wild pitch before Kennedy got her bat on a Makenna Pierce pitch and dropped it in short left field, bringing Cook home with the winning run.

“It feels great to get those wins,” Kennedy said. “We just get it done, and it happens.”

The resilient Bulldogs tied the contest when graduate first baseman Fa Leilua sliced an opposite-field home run off Pierce in the bottom of the fifth. The one-out blast came an inning after junior left fielder Chloe Malau’ulu was rung up on a full count with the bases loaded on a questionable pitch that looked to be outside.

Stepping to the plate, Leilua sought a similar offering. She got one on her own 3-2 delivery from Pierce and sent the softball over the wall on a line.

“I knew I just had to protect the plate in that count and back up my girls,” Leilua said.

Southern Miss scored both its runs shortly after Spexarth’s ground ball got the Bulldogs on the board first. Maria Smith doubled over Spexarth’s outstretched arm in right to plate the first run, and Destini Brown walked with the bases loaded and one out to force in the second.

But Mississippi State pitcher Annie Willis bore down from there, displaying a mindset that gave her defense the confidence to get out of the inning.

Kennedy recalled the senior’s words: “Hey, I got this, and we’re going to shut it down and get it back.”

Willis did so with some help from the Bulldogs behind her. Kennedy fielded a grounder to short and slung it home for a forceout, keeping the Golden Eagles’ lead at one. Karsen Pierce then grounded back to Willis, who got the out at first to end the inning.

As the game went on, Willis only got better. Despite rainy conditions at Nusz Park, she finished the complete-game effort on nearly 150 pitches.

“Even with the 148 pitches that she threw, she had four innings where she was 15 pitches or less, so I think that really helped her to be able to go all eight innings and for us to not have to get her out earlier once her pitch count got too high,” Ricketts said.

Willis helped the Bulldogs secure another home win as they moved to 4-0 in midweek games in Starkville. But just two of Mississippi State’s last 11 contests have been played at Nusz Park, and the team heads back out on the road again this weekend.

The Bulldogs will face No. 18 Missouri (29-10, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) for a three-game SEC series in Columbia, Missouri. First pitch Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.