Mississippi State Rallies To Salvage Sunday Game, Down 'Bama 8-5

Sunday, May 1

Starkville

1:30 PM

Mississippi State

25-18, 8-13

Alabama

28-19, 10-11

Alabama

Mississippi State

Mississippi State Rallies To Salvage Sunday Game, Down 'Bama 8-5

May 01, 2011 | Baseball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Cody Freeman's go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning lifted the Mississippi State baseball team to an 8-5 Southeastern Conference win over Alabama Sunday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.

Freeman's blast broke a 5-5 tie and highlighted a four-run eighth inning as the Maroon and White salvaged the final game of the weekend series. MSU also snapped an eight-game losing streak against UA. The Bulldogs have won the Sunday game four times in league play, while picking up at least one win in six of seven conference series.

With the victory, MSU improved to 25-18 overall and 8-13 in league play, while Alabama fell to 28-19 and 10-11. With three weeks remaining, the Western Division race is tighter than ever. Alabama and Arkansas each stand at 10-11, while Auburn and Ole Miss follow at 9-12. The Bulldogs trail that pair by one game and also lead sixth-place LSU by an identical margin. As it stands today, the Bulldogs are also one game back of qualifying for the SEC Tournament, as the top eight teams in the overall conference standings advance to Hoover.

The Bulldogs had some timely hitting on Sunday. The same could not be said a day earlier when Alabama won twice by 5-4 scores.

"We hit the ball hard again today," MSU head coach John Cohen said. "Some of them were still outs, but we got a few more to fall. We are right on the edge of knocking this door down. I say this all the time, but I really feel like we match up well with everyone from here on out. We ended the weekend almost where we started."

Alabama quickly sprinted to a 3-0 advantage. Bulldog starting pitcher Kendall Graveman was touched for a three-run home run by Tide shortstop Jared Reaves three batters into the contest.

The Bulldogs answered in the second inning when Brent Brownlee hit a two-run home run - his first of the season.

Graveman righted the ship and battled before giving way to the bullpen with one out in the fifth inning. UA scored once in the fourth inning, but Evan Mitchell snuffed the Tide threat in relief an inning later.

In the sixth inning, an RBI-single by Brock Bennett extended the Alabama advantage to 5-2.

The Bulldogs slowly rallied by scoring twice and then posting a series-best four-run eighth inning.

In the seventh inning, Cody Freeman started things with an infield hit. Jarrod Parks reached as a hit batsman. A single by Nick Vickerson loaded the bases. Jonathan Ogden followed with a sacrifice-fly, which was dropped by the UA right fielder. A follow-up groundball out by Ryan Collins cut the deficit to 5-4.

An inning later, the Bulldogs took control of things for good.

Jaron Shepherd, who homered twice in Saturday's 5-4 game one loss, led off the at-bat with a double down the left field line. Taylor Stark then followed with a bunt which was thrown away by the UA relief pitcher. That misplay allowed Shepherd to tie the game 5-5.

After another sacrifice bunt by C.T. Bradford, Freeman lined the first pitch he saw over the left center field fence. The Bulldog catcher's second home run of the year placed the Maroon and White on top for good, at 7-5. A Parks double, Vickerson single and wild pitch scored the additional insurance run in that frame.

In the Alabama ninth inning, the Tide stranded a pair as Caleb Reed came on to get the final two outs of the contest, earning his eighth save.

The Bulldogs finished with 13 hits. Freeeman and Vickerson each had three hits. Collins, Brownlee and Shepherd all added multiple hits. Parks extended his hit streak to 16 games. That marks the longest MSU hit streak since 2007.

The Crimson Tide finished with 10 hits. Bennett and Austen Smith each had multiple hits.

Graveman allowed seven hits and four runs (all earned) in 4.1 innings of work. Mitchell (4-1) worked 3.2 innings in relief to garner the win. Mitchell allowed two hits and one run (unearned). Daryl Norris started the ninth inning before giving way to Reed.

UA starter Taylor Wolfe allowed seven hits and two runs (both earned) in 5.2 innings of work. Wolfe struck out five, walked one and threw 110 pitches. Nathan Kennedy (0.2 IP), Adam Windsor (1.0 IP), Josh Rosecrans (0.0 IP) and Brett Whitaker (0.2 IP) followed in relief. Windsor (3-1) took the loss.

MSU plays at South Alabama at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Jaguars are 22-21 overall and 9-12 in Sun Belt Conference play after dropping all three games to Florida International this past weekend.