Outing by Wesley caps good day for Bulldogs with win over Jaguars
MOBILE, Ala. – Aspen Wesley threw her best game of the year, but even if she hadn't, Mississippi State's bat provided plenty of offense in an 8-4 victory at South Alabama on Friday night.
Wesley threw six innings, her longest outing of the young season, and needed just 88 pitches. She struck out a seasonhigh eight batters, which was just one shy of her career high set in 2021. The Philadelphia, Mississippi, native allowed four hits and just one run.
"I really loved how Aspen bounced back from her last outing in Clearwater last weekend," MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I thought she looked poised and focused, and she really made a focused effort to shut them down after we scored."
Offensively, State (8-4) did it with both the long ball and its short game. The Bulldogs collected a dozen hits, including four infield singles. Aquana Brownlee and Chloe Malau'ulu both homered. Brownlee finished the day with four RBI and matched her career high with three hits.
The teams traded a run each through the first two innings, before State took the lead for good in the third. A four-run sixth, highlighted by Brownlee's homer and an RBI double from Jackie Mckenna, later followed.
Mckenna, Malau'ulu and Brownlee were joined by Kiersten Landers to give State four players with multi-hit games. Malau'ulu finished with two RBIS.
MSU 12, Tulsa 3, five innings
MOBILE, Ala. – Mississippi State scored early and often, batting around twice, in a victory against Tulsa in five innings.
State sent 10 batters to the plate in both the first and fourth innings, scoring four runs in both frames. The Bulldogs capitalized on Tulsa (7-6) mistakes throughout the day. The Golden Hurricane gave away a combined 21 walks, hitby-pitches, errors, wild pitches and passed balls. MSU drew 10 walks alone, despite collecting just five hits.
The first three Bulldogs reached base without a hit to open the game, and an error brought home the game's first run. State scored three more times in the frame on just two base hits. State got another run in the third with a pair of singles and walk.
The Bulldogs' last hit was a big one, however. Paige Cook hit a three-run homer in the fourth following a walk and a fielder's choice that was unsuccessful in retiring the lead runner. The Bulldogs then put another nine runners on base via the walk or an error, including a dropped third strike.