STARKVILLE, Miss. — With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game, the No. 14 Mississippi State baseball team capitalized on the third error of the game by Southern Miss, as sophomore Tanner Allen sent the Dudy Noble Field faithful home happy with a walk-off RBI double that scored classmate Jordan Westburg from first on Sunday afternoon.
TANNER FREAKIN' ALLEN!🐶
— Mississippi State Baseball ⚾️ (@HailStateBB)
Before Allen's knock, Westburg reached on a throwing error by the USM shortstop to extend the ninth inning. Allen then ripped the first pitch he saw from reliever Ryan Och into the right-field corner and Westburg slid home safely before the throw could get to the plate.
COLLEGE BASEBALL RANKINGS: Vanderbilt stays No. 1 in Week 2 D1 Baseball poll
It was a game of momentum shifts, as State (6-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Southern Miss (4-2) answered with one in the top of the third inning. MSU responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the third inning, with Elijah MacNamee driving in both runs with a single up the middle.
With the Bulldogs leading 3-1, the Golden Eagles got a solo home run from Hunter LeBlanc and an RBI hit from Fred Franklin to tie the score at three apiece.
There’s truly nothing better than celebrating a big win with family!🐶
— Mississippi State Baseball ⚾️ (@HailStateBB)
It was a battle of the bullpens, as five MSU relievers combined for six innings of two-run work and USM's bullpen totaled 6 1/3 innings and allowed just one unearned run.
WEEK IN REVIEW: Ga. Tech walks off vs. UCLA on Friday | USF shuts down No. 5 Florida
Graduate student Cole Gordon (2-0) picked up his second victory on the season with two innings of scoreless relief to run his scoreless innings streak to 20 2/3 innings of work dating back to the 2018 season. Redshirt-junior Trysten Barlow made his second appearance of the weekend and got out of a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth inning and tossed a perfect seventh inning.
Mississippi State left eight runners on base while Southern Miss stranded 11 runners. Of the eight stranded for the Diamond Dawgs, seven of those came over the first five innings.
Difference maker.🐶
— Mississippi State Baseball ⚾️ (@HailStateBB)
