Mississippi State
Arkansas
Arkansas Tops State 10-5 To Salvage Series Finale
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Fifth-ranked Arkansas overcame an early 3-0 Mississippi State lead Sunday afternoon to record a 10-5 win, salvaging the final game of the three-game SEC baseball series at Baum Stadium/Cole Field. The Bulldogs (17-4, 4-2 SEC) won the first two games of the series --- 5-3 and 13-4 --- to capture their second straight league series and the fourth series in their last five trips to Fayetteville.
The Bulldogs raced to a 3-0 lead in the first inning off UA starter Devin Collis as six of the first seven Bulldog batters reached safely. State's run scored on a sacrifice fly by Brad Jones and back-to-back RBI singles by Bunky Kateon and Brian LaNinfa. Collis gave way to Charley Boyce, who retired Michael Rutledge on a groundout for the final out of the inning.
MSU starter Jon Crosby (3-1), who limited the Razorbacks to three hits over the first three innings, was unable to hold the lead. In the second inning UA third baseman Clay Goodwin cracked his second home run of the weekend, a solo shot, and the Razorbacks claimed the lead with three unearned runs in the fourth inning. Crosby retired the first two batters he faced in the frame, struck Goodwin with a pitch and gave up a single to John Marquardt. Bunky Kateon's throwing error on Brian Walker's grounder to short allowed one run to score, and Craig Gentry followed with a two-run single to right that staked Boyce to a 4-3 lead.
Boyce set the Bulldogs down in order in the fifth, two with strikeouts, to conclude a solid 4-1/3 innings of two-hit shutout relieve. He finished with five strikeouts and picked up his fourth win of the year.
Arkansas expanded the lead during a four-run, five-hit fifth inning burst that included back-to-back RBI doubles by Goodwin and Marquardt. Goodwin's double drove in two runs and ended Crosby's second start of the season while Marquardt greeted MSU relief pitcher Mike Valentine with his RBI two-bagger.
Scott Bridges capped the Arkansas scoring with a two-run blast in the sixth.
A pair of Starkville pitchers, freshman Jesse Carver and senior Saunders Ramsey each pitched an inning of shutout relief to close out the game for State while Lee Land gave up a pair of runs on five hits over the last 4.0 innings to earn his first save.
With two outs in the seventh Brad Corley roped a double into the left field corner off Lee Land, the third UA pitcher in the game, and later scored on a single by Joseph Hunter. Hunter's hit extended his career-best hitting streak to 17 games. State closed out its scoring an inning later on consecutive doubles ripped by Jeffrey Rea and Thomas Berkery.
Rea finished with his second straight three-hit plate performance. The Nettleton, Miss., sophomore went 8-for-13 (.615) at the plate with two doubles and a team-leading five RBI.
Mississippi State meets instate SEC rival Mississippi Tuesday in the 26th annual Entergy/Mayor's Trophy Game. First pitch at Smith-Wills Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m. The Bulldogs continue SEC play on the road this weekend, opening their April schedule with a three-game series at Tennessee (18-7, 3-3 SEC).
