Bulldogs secure run-rule victory after falling behind early

There were moments early that Mississippi State fans might have been feeling like they were seeing another rough game unfolding on Tuesday night against Valparaiso.

After putting seven on base and not scoring them in the first three innings as well as giving away a couple of runs on walks and a wild pitch, the Bulldogs woke up. State's offense scored six runs in the fourth inning and freshman

Bradley Loftin gave State the longest outing by a pitcher this year with the team's most strikeouts. The

Bulldogs ran away with it 12-2 in seven innings.

“I thought it was his best outing of the year,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said of Loftin. “He just looked a lot more comfortable (Tuesday). We know that he has really good stuff and if he commands the zone, he's just really hard to hit. I think they probably hit one hard hit ball on him all night.”

The freshman Loftin was making his third midweek start in a row and dealt with walks for a third-straight time. He had four walks in the game including two in a third inning that saw him give up a 2-0 lead. It was how he responded that showed the promise of the talented lefty.

Working his 93 miles per hour fastball along with a strong changeup, Loftin battled back from that deficit and threw six innings, gave up just two hits, two runs and five walks and struck out 11. It was the most innings thrown by a Bulldog pitcher this year and he became the first pitcher to strike out double-digit players.

“I just had to get out there and do my job,” Loftin said. “I had a job to do starting the game and it's to keep the other team's runs down and keep the momentum going. Pitching with the lead is a lot easier than pitching an even game or when you're down. It's how it's supposed to be.”

For Loftin to get into his groove, the offense had to start coming through with big hits. Having put seven runners on base in the first three innings and failing to score any of them, the Bulldogs finally came through in the fourth.

With the bases loaded and one out on three-straight singles from the bottom of the order, State got a sacrifice fly from Amani Larry and then tied the game on Colton Ledbetter's RBI single. Bryce Chance brought in two more, Luke Hancock doubled home another and a wild pitch score to finish off a six-run inning that suddenly had the Bulldog offense humming.

After getting a run home in the fifth, State drove in three in the sixth inning on a mammoth home run out of the park in right field from Hunter Hines for two runs and that was followed up by a solo shot from Kellum Clark to make it 10-2. A bases loaded walk from Connor Hujsak in the seventh fol

lowed by a Nate Chester single through the infield walked off the game in just seven frames.

The Bulldogs had 15 hits in the game with eight of the starters getting a base knock. Chance, Hancock, Hines, Clark and David Mershon all had two hits with two RBI each from Ledbetter, Chance and Hines, two doubles from Hancock and home runs each from Hines and Clark.

MSU had 12 more hitters to walk in the game with two each from Larry and Hancock. Mershon started his first game as a Bulldog after missing the first part of the season with a hamstring injury. He was starting in place of Slate Alford at third base and made quite the debut going 2-for-3 with a run and a walk. His only out was in his first at-bat when he scalded a ball to shortstop that started a double play.

“The first one is just baseball,i think,”mershon said.“it's the only game where you can be perfect and still get out. I was happy with hitting the ball hard and was going one at-bat at a time. I've been trying to play the role that I need to play and it's been on God's time, obviously. It was good to be out there.”

With the win, MSU is now 8-5 this season and playing with some momentum going into the weekend home series. The Bulldogs will host Lipscomb in a three-game home stand starting Friday at 6 p.m. Saturday's outing is at 2 p.m. and Sunday wraps up the set at 1 p.m.

“In baseball, it's about being consistent and showing up,” Lemonis said. “They've got (Wednesday) off so I told them don't come around the stadium, get some time off and get ready. We've got a big weekend ahead of us.”