Mississippi State baseball survived a tough matchup at the Hancock Whitney Classic in Biloxi on Tuesday, a game against Tulane that wasn’t always easy to watch for multiple reasons.

Those who watched the game on the ESPN app experienced a spotty broadcast with several glitches and a camera tint that made MSU’s gray uniforms appear as a dark shade of green, more akin to West Point High School. What’s more, they saw a slow start for the Bulldogs as the Green Wave scored twice early and built a 4-2, then a 7-2 lead going into the seventh-inning stretch.

The Bulldogs had to be patient in their response, but were ruthless at the plate with nine runs in the final two offensive appearances to overturn the five-run deficit and win, 11-7.

“We just weren’t putting up a lot of great, competitive at-bats in the first half of the game, but kept challenging the guys to take care of what they can, control what they can control,” head coach Brian O’Connor said to the media after the game. “Tulane opened the door a little bit for us with some walks, Ace Reese had the grand slam, and we had a toughness and tenacity to us offensively in the seventh and eighth innings, and we were opportunistic. Glad we found a way against a really good ball club.”

Reese’s big moment came after some disciplined at-bats to load the bases and put the pressure on, but still required the finishing touch that had been lacking all night. The Bulldogs left seven runners on base in the game and needed a clutch at-bat to start getting guys home. Reese got everyone home with one swing and nearly sent the ball across Highway 90 after it cleared the fence in left-center at Keasler Federal Park.

The rest of the team followed suit, with Reed Stallman, Gehrig Frei and Chone James adding RBI hits to take the lead, while two more runs would pad the deal in the eighth inning.

It took steady pitching to seal the deal, but the Bulldogs found it from Chris Billingsley Jr. and Ben Davis to snuff any hope among the Green Wave dugout that may have remained.

“Charlie Foster in that first inning wasn’t great, but he settled in that second and threw a better inning,” O’Connor said. “I thought Maddox Miller and Chris Billingsley were outstanding. It was great to see Billingsley out there in the eighth, when we had the lead, and go 1-2-3. I thought the middle of the game, Miller doing what he was doing for two innings, was a big point because he didn’t let it get out of control.”

O’Connor didn’t mince words when evaluating the performance, and echoed an observation he had made in the first series against Hofstra as well as defeats against Top-10 teams UCLA and Southern Miss; he sees a team with guts that doesn’t give up.

“That’s the biggest win of the year for us,” he said. “(Being) down what we were down, and I’ve talked about this in the short season, this team doesn’t go away. They have belief throughout the entire game and that showed again tonight.”

MSU will begin SEC play against No. 5 Arkansas this weekend in Fayetteville, with the series beginning at 6 p.m. Friday.