Bulldogs need one more win
Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Mississippi State’s season comes down to one game tonight. Ethan McKinzie threw a complete game four-hitter in just his third start of the season to lead Central Arkansas over Mississippi State for a 5-2 victory at an NCAA regional on Sunday night.
Central Arkansas (42-21) forced a winner-take-all rematch tonight at 7 for the Starkville Regional title.
McKinzie (4-2) threw 128 pitches and scattered five walks.
Mississippi State (45-18) tied the game at 2-2 in the sixth on Sam Frost’s run-scoring single, but Central Arkansas responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Justin Treece had the big hit with a 2-run double that short-hopped the wall in left field.
Mississippi State made four errors. Myles Gentry (4-1) took the loss, giving up three runs in 3 1-3 innings of relief.
And, Conner Gilmore threw a four-hit shutout to lead Central Arkansas to a 3-0 victory over South Alabama in an NCAA regional on Sunday. Gilmore (5-0) needed just 101 pitches to plow through South Alabama’s lineup, striking out two and walking one as Central Arkansas (41-21) advanced to play regional host Mississippi State. The Bears must beat the Bulldogs twice to advance to the super regionals.
Central Arkansas scored its first run in the fourth inning on a two-out single by Scott Zimmerle single. Zimmerle finished with two RBIs, Ethan Harris was 3 for 3 with one walk and two runs scored, while Blake Marchal was 2 for 3 and scored a run.
The loss eliminated South Alabama (43-20).
South Alabama coach Mark Calvi was ejected in the eighth inning for arguing a close play at first base. Central Arkansas scored two runs later that inning, both on sacrifice flies.
Mississippi State scored four runs in the fifth inning to overcome an early deficit and beat South Alabama 6-2 at an NCAA regional Saturday night.
Brett Pirtle had the big hit during the Bulldogs’ fifth inning, with a two-run single to right field that put Mississippi State ahead 3-2. C.T. Bradford added a two-run single in the seventh inning to give the Bulldogs a 6-2 lead.
Ross Mitchell (12-0) pitched 5 1-3 innings of scoreless relief for the win. Alex Detz was 3 for 4 with a run scored. South Alabama didn’t score a run after the fourth inning. Matt Bell (6-2) took the loss, giving up five runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Alex Detz had three hits, Wes Rea added two run-scoring singles and Mississippi State scored three runs in the sixth inning to push past Central Arkansas 5-3 on Friday night.
Mississippi State trailed 2-1 in the fifth inning before Rea’s second single brought home Brett Pirtle to tie the game. The Bulldogs added three more runs in the sixth on three hits.
Mississippi State’s Kendall Graveman (6-5) gave up two runs over 6 1-3 innings for the win. The Bulldogs won despite four errors, including three in the fifth inning.
Central Arkansas managed just five hits. Caleb McClanahan (10-6) took the loss, giving up five runs in 5 2-3 innings.
Also, Ole Miss and Jackson State were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament over the weekend.
Jackson Shaver drove in two runs and William & Mary beat Ole Miss 4-1 Sunday, eliminating the Rebels from the Raleigh regional.
Ryan Lindemuth and Ryan Hissey each had RBIs for the third-seeded Tribe 0(39-23).
They beat second-seeded Ole Miss (38-24) for the second time in three days this weekend and advanced to play top-seeded North Carolina State. Brett Koehler (7-5) allowed seven hits with five strikeouts in his first win since May 10.
Shaver, the son of Tribe men’s basketball coach Tony Shaver, gave William & Mary the lead for good when his two-run single off Sam Smith (3-1) in the fourth made it 3-1.
It came a half-inning after Ole Miss tied it at 1 when Austin Anderson scored on Preston Overbey’s double play groundout.
Hissey drove in an insurance run in the sixth. Lindemuth’s RBI double in the first gave the Tribe the early lead.
NCSU beat the Tribe Sunday night to win the regional title.
LSU beat JSU 11-7 on Friday night and then the Tigers fell 17-1 to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday. Both games were in the Baton Rouge Regional.
LSU beat ULL for the title Sunday night.