Veterans help hit Mississippi State to win

Rowdey Jordan, Jordan Westburg and Josh Hatcher are three veterans who are expected to deliver offensively for the Mississippi State baseball team.

On Sunday, they were all involved with the production for the Bulldogs against the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

The trio combined to get seven of the 11 MSU hits in an 8-4 victory that completed a three-game sweep of Quinnipiac.

Westburg had a double, a single and three RBIS, while Hatcher had a triple and two singles, and Jordan added two singles for the Bulldogs, who improved to 10-4 this season.

“When those guys play well, it seems everyone else relaxes and plays well too,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said.

Jordan, Westburg and Hatcher were right in the middle of the run the Bulldogs made to the College World Series last season so they know what it’s like to perform at a high level.

After Westburg did not get a hit on Saturday, he was glad to be able to contribute to Sunday’s win and see the top of the MSU order generate some offense.

“It’s what we expected coming into the year was for us older guys to step up in big moments,” Westburg said. “(Saturday) wasn’t pretty, but (Sunday) I thought we came out and played a lot better. The pitchers did a good job of filling up the zone. On offense, we were back to our normal selves a little bit.”

Kamren James put the Bulldogs

up 2-0 in the first inning when his double with two outs sent Westburg and Hatcher across the plate.

“When you get a two-out hit, which we haven’t had a lot of, it really let us relax and breathe,” Lemonis said.

The Bobcats rallied to take a 3-2 lead with one run in the third inning and two more in the fourth on a two-run double by Michael Kohn.

After a solo home run by MSU’S Logan Tanner tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth, the Bulldogs went on to score four more runs in the frame. Jordan had an RBI single and Westburg had a tworun double.

Quinnipiac cut the margin to 7-4 with a run in the seventh inning, then MSU got its final run in the eighth when Westburg drove in Tanner Leggett with a single.

The Bulldogs used five pitchers with starter Eric Cerantola going the first three innings with four strikeouts, David Dunlavey pitching three perfect frames with three strikeouts, and Chase Patrick, Jaxen Forrester

and Spencer Price working one inning each.

Dunlavey was the winning pitcher and improved his record to 2-1.

“I felt good today,” Dunlavey said. “I was just pounding the zone, which is something I’ve struggled with lately. I feel like I had all my stuff today.”

Before MSU begins Southeastern Conference play at home next weekend against Arkansas, it makes the trip to Biloxi in the midweek to play Texas Tech Tuesday and Wednesday.