Diamond Dawgs embarrassed in Sunday's rubber match as Rebels run-rule, 14-2
OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss looked like a team on the verge of being dead and buried late in its game on Saturday night and then Mississippi State gave the Rebels life.
After State blew a 7-3 lead and eventually gifted the Rebels a win in 12 innings, that rolled over into Sunday. State gave up four runs in the first three innings and were dominated by Rebel starter Mason Nichols on the way to a 14-2 blowout loss in just seven innings.
The loss gave Ole Miss a series win over the Bulldogs for the first time since 2015.
The series win broke up seven-straight series victories for State over the Rebels and ended what had been a eight-game losing streak this year for Ole Miss.
“I thought from the eighth inning when it did turn, they had a good inning or two, but we fought our (expletive) off last night. We just didn’t make it happen. What happens when you lose a walk off like that it gives the other team a lot of momentum and I think you tip your hats to Ole Miss. They took that momentum and played with it (Sunday),” coach Chris Lemonis said.
“Emptying the bullpens (Saturday) had an impact on (Friday). We’ve got to finish games out. We’ve had a couple of them in the league. We got four runs lead in the eight and leads in the ninth and we don’t finish it. It’s not just about pitching, it’s about everything. It’s about making plays.”
State did a little bit of everything badly on Sunday. The Diamond Dawgs had just two hits in the first six innings off of Nichols as he made his second start. The former reliever threw a career-high 6.1frames giving up just four hits, two runs, one earned, zero walks and he struck out four batters.
The Rebels came into the game being outscored 43-11 in games three of a series in SEC play but had no trouble with State on Sunday. Ole Miss would outhit State 16-4 in the game and deliver the worst loss of the season for an MSU team that has been more competitive this year.
For the Bulldog pitchers gave up runs in six of the seven innings with two or more runs in three frames. The top five in the order for the Rebels all had two hits with six of the nine starters notching multiple base knocks.
Evan Siary (0-3) lasted just 2.0 innings in his start as the Rebels teed off for five hits and three runs. Cole Cheatham, Colby Holcombe and Luke Dotson would combine to throw 4.0 innings giving up 10 hits, 10 runs, four walks and strikeout four batters.
Logan Forsythe came in during the seventh and faced one batter as Will Furniss would deliver a three-run walk-off home run.
As bad as State was on the mound, the team was about as bad at the plate. The team had just four hits in the seven innings with Hunter Hines delivering an RBI double in the third and Logan Kohler had a bases loaded walk.
State (22-14, 7-8 SEC) had a chance to make a move closer to postseason play but the Diamond Dawgs are putting pressure on themselves as the SEC schedule heats up. MSU has Super Bulldog Weekend next weekend as Auburn comes to town for a three-game series beginning Friday night. The team hosts Alcorn State on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
“I think we’ve got a great team. We’re starting the second half of SEC play and get three of the series at home to finish the SEC slate,” Lemonis said. “We’ve shown we can play with anybody. (Saturday) night we were playing as well as we can until we get to the eighth inning. We’ve got to continue that. We’ve got to continue to get better. The best teams keep improving through this and we’ve got to be a team that improves.”
