If anything, it was adventurous.
The ball flicked off Mississippi State senior Jake Mangum’s bat and tailed foul over Georgia first baseman Patrick Sullivan.
Some of those hoping for a permanent record of the moment flipped their video cameras off in anticipation of an out.
It dropped for a hit.
“Such a special player the way he plays the game and the way he gets a big hit,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. “The bigger the moment, the bigger the hit.”
In the second inning of Saturday’s 9-3 win over No. 4 Georgia, Mangum recorded his 353rd career hit on a twisting blooper down the first base line to break former LSU star Eddy Furniss’ all-time Southeastern Conference record.
“I was just really happy it was over,” he said. “‘Cause hitting with that in the back of your mind hitting with that in the back of your head, it’s really hard.”
While Mangum’s hit added historic relevance to Saturday’s game, it was the refocused MSU offense that delivered a third-straight victory.
After a 19-run onslaught in game one and an eight run outing against No. 19 Ole Miss Tuesday, the Diamond Dawgs tagged the Bulldogs for 12 hits on the afternoon.
More specifically, it was MSU’s sophomore class that led MSU in the early going.
Justin Foscue opened the scoring with his 12th home run of the season — a three-run shot to left field. He now has 7 RBIs in his past three games.
Jordan Westburg added the next MSU run via sac fly to extend the lead to 4-1 in the second inning.
The ensuing frame Rowdey Jordan belted his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot to right, to give MSU a 5-1 lead.
“I thought (Westburg) had some really good at bats at the end of the game, Rowdey has had some really good at bats and Foscue, I mean, his at-bats have been real good all week long,” Lemonis said. “That group has been good.”
MSU broke the game open in the seventh inning.
Westburg scored another run when a wild pitch snuck past Georgia catcher Mason Meadows.
Junior Dustin Skelton then brought sophomore Tanner Allen home on a sac fly, while Mangum and junior Gunner Halter each notched RBI singles of their own to make it 9-1 MSU.
Georgia threatened briefly in the eighth, scoring two runs — one on an error by Halter and another on a bases loaded walk.
On the mound, JT Ginn looks to be back to his pre-injury form. The freshman right-hander gave up just one run on five hits and struck out seven in five innings of work.
Ginn has now pitched five or more innings in eight of his 10 starts, including five outings of six or more frames.
“Like I always do, (I) just tried to attack with the fastball and pitch off that,” he said. “The command was a little shaky at some points but I was able to grind through it and get five innings and turn it over to the bullpen.”
Trysten Barlow, Jared Liebelt and Colby White combined for four innings of 2-hit ball in relief.
The two Georgia runs occurred with Liebelt on the mound, though he was only credited for one of them.
Liebelt allowed the only runs of the group, though only one was earned, two Georgia scores in the eighth.
MSU has now won six of its past nine games against SEC opponents and three straight overall. With a win Sunday, it would give the Diamond Dawgs just their second conference sweep of the season.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a very tough game,” Mangum said. “But we’ve got Sunday (black uniforms) out and we don’t lose in Sunday blacks.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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