STARKVILLE – Mississippi State baseball picked up a run-rule win over Austin Peay at Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday. A potentially tricky matchup quickly turned into a blowout as the Bulldogs posted runs in five consecutive innings to win 16-3.
The Diamond Dawgs are now 9-0 on the year ahead of a trip to Arlington at the weekend, and they’ll arrive in Texas with warm bats after a 16-hit performance.
The Bulldogs took a blow in the second inning when starting pitcher William Kirk came away from a pitch hobbling. He’d just struck out a batter and tossed a strike on the next one when he wheeled away from the follow-through with a limp. He threw one warm-up pitch and struggled to put weight on the foot, prompting head coach Brian O’Connor to send Chris Billingsley Jr. up for warm-ups in the bullpen to take over.
Billingsley got the strikeout and pitched a 1-2-3 third inning to steady the ship, and was followed out of the bullpen by Jack Bauer to start the fourth inning.
When the freshman took the mound, the Bulldogs had established a 7-1 advantage on the scoreboard. Bryce Chance got two runners home with a hit in the second inning, Ryder Woodson got another in the third, and then Aidan Teel launched his first home run as a Bulldog into the student section in right field with the bases loaded for the team’s first grand slam of the season.
MSU bats kept on going, scoring runs in five straight innings after a scoreless first. Reed Stallman and Ace Reese added RBI hits over the middle innings to keep adding to the lead, and James Nunnallee hit a three-run homer to put the run-rule win in play with a 13-1 lead.
On the mound, the Bulldogs continued to work through the Governors with ease. Jack Gleason had another good outing over 1.1 innings, Dane Burns made quick work of the side in the sixth inning and Tanner Beliveau arrived to finish things off in the seventh.
It wasn’t so straightforward of a closeout, and Beliveau was pulled after allowing a two-RBI hit with two outs. Braden Booth came in to get the final out and got it via punchout.
MSU is back in action on Friday against Arizona State at 11 a.m. The weekend series in Arlington will stream exclusively on FloSports.
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