STARKVILLE — Mississippi State got back in the win column on Tuesday.

The No. 9 Bulldogs improved to 26-7 with a much-needed win after being swept by No. 4 Georgia at home last weekend. It wasn’t the most memorable night at Dudy Noble Field, but it was important to respond to the first sweep of the year, and they did so in a bullpen game against a tricky nonconference opponent.

UAB (22-11, 7-2 AAC) isn’t a program to overlook this year. The Blazers came to Starkville on a nine-game winning streak with sweeps of Florida Atlantic and Tulane under their belt, and opened the season with an upset win at Florida.

The visitors scored runs in three straight innings, starting with a solo home run from catcher Austin Pierzynski in the third. The son of former Major Leaguer AJ Pierzynski registered two hits on the night, and the team as a whole recorded eight hits and continually created dangerous opportunities offensively that the Bulldog bullpen had to deal with.

“We obviously knew UAB has got a really good ball club, quite a few home runs, but they can bunt, hit and run,” MSU head coach Brian O’Connor said. “They put pressure on you, they steal bases, so really proud of our guys out of the bullpen. One after another, they managed innings. It wasn’t pretty, but we knew it wasn’t going to be because UAB just doesn’t strike out much. A lot of guys made big pitches, no bigger pitches than Maddox Webb in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and their leadoff hitter coming up.”

It was a night where the offensive approach was much improved despite the absence of Noah Sullivan through suspension and Aidan Teel through injury. More significantly, the offensive approach improved despite a fierce wind sweeping east across the outfield.

“There were 10 balls I bet were hit over 100 mph… how many guys just smoked balls all the way to the warning track and because of the crosswind kind of died,” O’Connor said. “The run total for us was not reflective of how we swung the bat. Secondly, from an offensive standpoint, I thought our two-strike approach is back. That’s part of what has gotten us to be a great team, we got away from that a bit, and tonight it was really good.”

“I thought we swung it really well tonight,” freshman Jacob Parker said. The right fielder sent a two-run shot over the wall in right center to give MSU a 4-2 lead in the third inning, one of two hits on the day.

“Obviously, the box score and scoreboard didn’t really show it, but I think we just keep that rolling into this weekend. The approach has really been the same all year. Try and grind at bats out, have good two-strike counts and figure things out.”

There was confidence from junior All-American Ace Reese after the Game 3 loss to UGA that the Bulldogs could reset and move on from the tough series loss. It was a bit fitting that he was the first one to put the team on the board with a two-run homer in his first at-bat, and the team followed suit. There were some difficult moments, but the team kept their heads in some tough spots to strand 11 runners from the visitors and keep rolling toward the win before turning the page to Tennessee coming to town this weekend.

“That’s that mentality that I continue to talk about, preach about, that has to be a trademark of what we’re about,” O’Connor said. “And we showed that, certainly, tonight, so that’s exciting for us moving forward.”