STARKVILLE – John Holland had been struggling. So had Mississippi State’s baseball team.
In the bottom of the 10th inning of Tuesday night’s home game against Western Kentucky, both Holland and the Bulldogs broke through at the same time.
Holland, a junior college transfer who played his freshman season at Florida State, roped a 1-0 pitch from Western Kentucky relief pitcher Brennan Pearson into center field and then watched as pinch-runner Michael Smith slid across home plate, giving Holland the walkoff single in a 6-5 MSU victory.
“That was an awesome feeling,”said Holland. “As soon as I made the turn at first, I looked toward the plate. I knew he’d be safe and the game would be over, or he’d be out and we’d play another inning. As soon as he was called safe, I saw a wall of teammates running at me to celebrate.”
Celebrate, they did. Holland’s game-winning line drive pulled the iron out of the fire for an MSU team that had lost three of four games entering the two-game series with Western Kentucky. The latest loss, a 9-6 setback to San Diego on Sunday, saw the Bulldogs blow a 5-0 second-inning lead as the MSU bullpen imploded down the stretch.
It almost happened again on Tuesday. Thanks to a four-run fourth-inning, keyed by a two-run home run from sophomore left fielder Reid Humphreys, MSU raced out to a 4-0 lead. But once again, the Bulldogs’ bullpen fumbled it away, as left-hander Daniel Brown gave up back-to-back solo home runs to Western Kentucky’s Danny Hudzina and Kaleb Duckworth in the top of the ninth, turning a 4-3 lead into a 5-4 deficit. But in the ninth, the Bulldog rallied for a run when senior shortstop Seth Heck singled, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt and then advanced twice more of wild pitches to score the tying run.
That set the stage for Holland, who came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and Smith staring at him from second base.
“That was huge for John to come through like that for us,” said MSU coach John Cohen, who watched his Bulldogs improve to 15-3 on the season. “We probably did everything we could do to lose that game tonight, and to be honest, Western Kentucky probably deserved to win it. But we came back because our kids just competed nonstop. They didn’t get down when we gave up the lead, they just fought through it.”
The Bulldogs were able to escape despite giving up a four-run lead for the second-straight game. After taking the 4-0 lead in the fourth, MSU starter Lucas Laster gave up a solo home run to Hudzina, who left the yard twice, in the top of the fifth. Another fifth-inning run would cut the lead to 4-2 against Laster, who allowed two earned runs in seven innings of work.
“I thought Lucas did an outstanding job, made the one bad pitch,” said Cohen. “But we made so many mistakes after that. In the ninth, put two fastballs right in the middle of the plate and they hit it out of the ball park, suddenly we’re behind. I thought Levi Mintz did a great job to calm everything down and get us out of that.”
Mintz, a sophomore relief pitcher, entered with one out and a runner on after Brown gave up three straight hits. Mintz then escaped trouble and held WKU at bay in the 10th, leaving with a 1-2 count on Hilltopper first baseman Ryan Church. Closer Trevor Fitts entered the game and threw one pitch, finishing the strikeout. He eventually earned his first win of the season.
In the bottom of the 10th, MSU catcher Josh Lovelady walked and was replaced by the speedy Smith. After Smith advanced to second on a wild pitch, he scored on Holland’s line drive to center.
“He has a great slider and a good breaking ball,” said Holland. “I went up there shortening up, expecting those pitches. But he gave me a gift with a fastball over the plate, so I just put a good swing on it.”
Holland’s good swing was the final hit for the Bulldogs on a day MSU showed more offensive punch than they had in a week. MSU managed 13 hits on the game and four of those were extra-base hits, including the two-run home run from Humphreys, which exited the playing surface in the deepest part of park in center field.
“We competed much better at the plate,” said Cohen. “It’s good to see guys like John (Holland and Reid (Humphreys) get those big hits. At-bats like that have a way of getting you going as a hitter.”
The two teams will return to action today at 5 p.m.
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