STARKVILLE – Life is never easy in the Southeastern Conference and on Thursday (May 13) evening at Dudy Noble Field the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program grabbed a hard-fought, 5-4, victory over Missouri to open the three-game series.

Two runs in the first inning got the Mississippi State (36-11, 17-8 SEC) offense started, before Missouri (12-33, 5-20 SEC) scored four straight runs to take a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning. State scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to rally for the win.

The big hit came from Scotty Dubrule, as his two-RBI infield single with two outs pushed across two runs and gave MSU the lead. Dubrule posted the only multi-hit game of the night for MSU, while Kamren James and Luke Hancock added RBIs in the game. Luke Hancock was on base three times with a base hit and a pair of walks and scored the eventual game winning run from second base on Dubrule’s infield single.

Rowdey Jordan was on base twice to push his reached base streak to 32-game, which ranks tied for the fifth-longest single-season reached base streak since 2002 with Matthew Maniscalco (2003). A first inning double for Tanner Allen moved his hitting streak to 10 games and pushed him into a tie for No. 6 on the career doubles charts at 54 two-baggers in his career.

The Mississippi State bullpen fired six innings of one-run relief of starting pitcher Christian MacLeod and retired the final eight batters of the game, including six via strikeout. Brandon Smith allowed one run on two hits, before Preston Johnson (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings with six strikeouts and one walk to earn the victory.

Landon Sims entered and sat down all six batters he faced, striking out the side in the eighth and one in the ninth to seal his seventh save of the season. It is the fifth multi-inning save for Sims and his sixth save in SEC play. From the sixth through the eighth inning, Johnson and Sims did not have a ball put in play with nine strikeouts and one walk over 10 batters faced.

In all, the State pitching staff fanned 14 batters to move its season total to 603 and mark just the fourth season in program history that MSU has struck out 600-plus batters as a staff.

Missouri starting pitcher Jacob Kush took a no decision but threw five innings and allowed two runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out three batters. Andrew Keefer was 3-for-3 at the plate with one walk and two runs scored on the night, while

Quotable

Head coach Chris Lemonis

On Scotty Dubrule’s go-ahead hit

CL: Sometimes you’re just opportunistic because it’s a three-two count on the play and everybody’s running. We got a head start – just the right time, right place, right ball. Most of the night, I felt like we were hitting balls right at them. We finally had a ball hit in the right spot for us and we were able to score a couple.

Scoring Recap

Bottom First

Rowdey Jordan singled up the middle before Tanner Allen doubled to left center. Jordan scored on a groundout before an RBI single by Luke Hancock pushed another across giving MSU the early lead.

Mississippi State 2, Missouri 0

Top Second

Alex Peterson walked, stole second and advanced to third on an error before scoring on a single by Ty Wilmsmeyer.

Mississippi State 2, Missouri 1

Top Third

Tre Morris and Andrew Keefer each singled to start the inning before Morris advanced to third on a fly out to put runners on the corners. Keefer stole second and Morris home to bring in a run. A base hit for Joshua Day plated the second run of the inning to give the Tigers the lead.

Missouri 3, Mississippi State 2

Top Fifth

Keefer doubled down the left field line and scored on a Luke Mann single.

Missouri 4, Mississippi State 2

Bottom Seventh

Brayland Skinner walked and advanced on Kamren James’ single to third base before scoring on a wild pitch. Hancock and Logan Tanner each walked to load the bases before a Scotty Dubrule single up the middle plated two.

Mississippi State 5, Missouri 4

Up Next

Mississippi State and Missouri will meet for the middle game in the series at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 14, before a 1 p.m. start in the series finale on Saturday, May 15. Both games will be aired on the SEC Network+ and Mississippi State Radio Network.