PEARL – Despite a fast start, Southern Miss could not hold off Mississippi State on Tuesday night in a 5-4 decision.
Dakota Jordan gave Mississippi State his fifth home run of the year to break a tie game in the top of the seventh inning. Southern Miss had jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first, but the Bulldogs rallied back to clinch the victory.
“Tough loss,” Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander said. “Another one that we were right there in it and couldn’t find a way to finish it. Hats off to Mississippi State, I thought their pitcher really settled in.”
Cole Boswell started on the mound for the Golden Eagles and gave up a walk but did not blink and put up a goose egg in the first for Mississippi State.
Dalton McIntyre stuck out to open the first inning, but Nick Monistere followed him with an RBI single up the middle. He stole second base and moved to third after a fielder’s choice.
A wild pitch plated the game’s first run, giving Southern Miss the early lead. Billy Butler then unloaded on a ball to direct center field, giving Southern Miss a 2-0 lead.
“We want to show the world that our offense is as good as we think it is,” Butler said. “There are a lot of doubts offensively for us right now. We know our arms are unbelievable and we want to show everyone we can bang.”
The following two batters for USM walked, and both scored after Seth Smith came up with a two-RBI single to put USM up 4-0 in the first.
Mississippi State responded in the second inning, plating a pair of runs to bring the score to 4-2.
The teams traded goose eggs on the scoreboard until the fifth inning when the game entered a rain delay. The game was delayed for 46 minutes at the start of the fifth inning.
After the delay, it was all Mississippi State.
Southern Miss only had one hit after the delay, which came in the sixth inning. USM Colby Allen pitcher plunked a pair of Bulldog batters in the fifth inning. A single by Jordan plated a Bulldog run; then Hunter Hines tied the game with a fielder’s choice RBI.
Southern Miss could not get the hit when they needed it. They went 1-9 (.111) with runners in scoring position.
“You can’t do it for them,” Ostrander said on the situational hitting woes. “We are trying to put them in the best position to be successful. Ultimately it’s them growing up and figuring out a way to slow their pulse and take a breath and come through and get that hit.”
Jordan nailed his bomb in the top of the seventh to push the Bulldogs out in front for good. Kros Sivley suffered the loss by allowing a run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings and fell to 0-2.
The Golden Eagles (8-5) return to action this weekend when they travel to Ruston to face Louisiana Tech (13-0) in a three-game series. The first game of the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m.
