Powers Walkoff Home Run In 10th Propels Bulldogs Past Wildcats, 4-3, Saturday

Saturday, April 18

Starkville

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

20-19, 0

Kentucky

20-17, 0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Kentucky	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	9	2
Mississippi State	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	9	1

State First Baseman Connor Powers Drafted By Los Angeles Dodgers

Powers Walkoff Home Run In 10th Propels Bulldogs Past Wildcats, 4-3, Saturday

April 18, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State junior first baseman Connor Powers knew the ball had left the ballpark when it left his bat. Most of the Dudy Noble Field crowd of 10,210 knew it as well.

Powers' massive home run to right center field led off the bottom of the 10th inning and lifted his Mississippi State Bulldogs past the Kentucky Wildcats 4-3 in the middle game of a weekend Southeastern Conference baseball series.

MSU largest's crowd this season jammed into Dudy Noble Field to be part of the 24th Super Bulldog Weekend presented by Regions Bank. For MSU, it is the 23rd time in school history a crowd better than 10,000 has gathered to watch the Diamond Dogs. For the 2009
season, Saturday's crowd count ranks as the third biggest turnout for a Southeastern Conference game this season.

With the victory, MSU improves to 20-19 overall and 6-11 in league play, while Kentucky falls to 20-17 and 5-12. Both teams will be fighting for their second conference series win of the year in the Sunday finale.

Powers becomes the third Bulldog to hit a walk-off home run this season. Earlier, Jet Butler hit a one-out three run home run to defeat North Florida 9-7, followed by Ryan Duffy hitting a one-out solo shot to defeat Southern Miss 7-6.

Saturday afternoon, Powers hit the first pitch he saw from Logan Darnell into a packed outfield lounge area, as the ball easily cleared just left of the 374-foot mark in right center field.

“Really, I wanted to end the game so everybody could go to the spring football game,” Powers said jokingly. “Actually, I was looking for a good pitch in the zone because we knew (Darnell) throws hard and challenges hitters. I was able to drive through the ball and help get us a big win.”

A Naperville, Illinois native, Powers has been on a hitting tear for the Bulldogs. His current hit streak is now at 11 straight games and 12 straight conference games. The home run was a team-best 12th for the season.

“Big players come through in big situations,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “This was that kind of moment and Connor Powers did that today.”

The Bulldogs received another strong pitching start from freshman left-hander Nick Routt. Routt, who had thrown four consecutive complete games in league starts, worked six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned), with eight strikeouts and one walk.

For MSU, Chad Crosswhite worked the seventh inning and was lifted with one out in the eighth inning. Jarred Wesson (2-0) threw 2-2/3 innings of one-hit, shutout relief to garner his first conference win.

“(Routt) didn't have his best,” Cohen said. “But he was good enough. That's what we need.”

Kentucky scored first in the third inning on an RBI-single from Chris Bisson.

MSU answered with two runs in its half of the fourth inning. The Bulldogs scored on a UK throwing error and Brent Brownlee RBI-single in that at-bat.

UK tied the contest in the fifth inning and took the lead in the seventh inning. Again, Bisson had an RBI-single in both of those frames. This on the heels of Friday night, where Bisson had an RBI-single and the eventual game-winning two-run triple in the 11th inning of Friday night's 5-4 UK win.

The Bulldogs again answered in the seventh inning. Grant Hogue reached on a leadoff double and later scored when UK threw away a fielded ball on a bunt attempt by Scott DeLoach.

MSU finished with nine hits. Brownlee was the lone multiple hitter for the Bulldogs. Ryan Powers was hitless in the game and saw his hit streak end at 15 games.

Kentucky finished with nine hits. Bisson had three hits, while Chad Wright had two hits for the Wildcats.

Darnell (3-3) worked a perfect ninth inning before being touched for the walk-off an inning later. Starter Chris Rusin threw 7-1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned), with eight strikeouts and three walks. Tyler Henry threw in middle relief for the Wildcats.

The series finale is at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. UK is scheduled to start freshman right-hander Alex Meyer (1-2, 4.69 ERA), while MSU is scheduled start junior right-hander Rickey Bowen (2-2, 5.96 ERA). The Bulldogs host Middle Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.