Duffy Walk-Off Home Run Helps State Nip Golden Eagles, 7-6

Wednesday, April 8

Starkville

6:30 PM

Mississippi State

18-15

Southern Miss

20-11

Southern Miss

Mississippi State

Diamond Dogs Oust Braves For Midweek Win, 27-4

Duffy Walk-Off Home Run Helps State Nip Golden Eagles, 7-6

April 08, 2009 | Baseball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State's Ryan Duffy hit a towering walk-off home run to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning lifting the Bulldogs past in-state rival Southern Miss 7-6 in college baseball action Wednesday night at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs improved to 18-15 overall and 15-4 at Dudy Noble Field this season. Southern Miss fell to 20-11. The Golden Eagles had entered the contest with a nation's best 7-0 mark in true road games on the season. The teams wind up splitting the 2009 season series as the Bulldogs snap an overall three-game slide to the Golden Eagles.

Duffy brought things to a dramatic closure Wednesday night. The junior designated hitter hit Collin Cargill's 1-0 pitch into the left field lounge for his fourth home run of the season, marking MSU's second win by walk-off this season.

“I was really just looking to put the barrel (of the bat) on the ball,” Duffy said. “Fortunately, it worked out very well for us. This is a really big win going into a huge series this weekend in Knoxville.”

While the Bulldogs did match a season-best with three home runs, the story of the contest may have been pitching and defense. MSU matched a school record with five turned double plays. The Bulldogs also got a much-needed lift from the pitching duo of Chad Crosswhite and Paxton Pace.

Pace (1-0), who had appeared in two games prior to the Wednesday's relief work, threw the final four innings to garner his first win as a Bulldog. Pace allowed six hits and four runs (one earned), with one strikeout and no walks.

Starter Chad Crosswhite was lifted after a leadoff hit batsman in the sixth inning. Crosswhite allowed three hits and two runs (both earned), with two walks and one strikeout.

MSU struck first Wednesday night, as Connor Powers greeted Southern Miss starter Seth Hester with a two-run home run to center field. For Powers, it was his team-best ninth home run and fourth in the last five games.

The Bulldogs still held a 3-1 lead before Southern Miss tallied four runs in the sixth inning.

In that at-bat, MSU opened the door with the hit batsman and a catcher's interference call. Bo Davis and James Ewing had RBI-singles. A passed ball scored another run and Joey Archer's sacrifice-fly extended the lead to 5-3.

The Bulldogs stormed right back with two scores in the sixth inning. Duffy started things with a double to right center field. After a walk, Hester was replaced by Wade Weathers. Weathers issued a walk to Ryan Collins and gave up an RBI-single to Ryan Powers. Jonathan Johnston followed and allowed the game-tying sacrifice-fly to Grant Hogue.

Kyle Lindsey followed in relief for USM and worked the Golden Eagles out of the sixth inning before being touched for Russ Sneed's fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning. That long ball gave the Bulldogs a briefly-held 6-5 lead.

Southern Miss forced the game's final tie in the eighth inning when Kameron Brunty singled and Joey Archer followed with an RBI-double. Again, the MSU defense sparkled, as a great outfield catch by Collins meant no more damage in that at-bat.

Cargill (2-2) entered in the eighth inning. He worked around a one-out walk before giving up Duffy's game-winner an inning later.

“One thing you can say about our team is we are always going to compete and play hard,” Duffy said. “That is what our fans deserve to see. Even after the disappointing loss on Sunday, the mindset was to get right back after it and win a couple of games in the midweek. Both teams played hard tonight. It was a back-and-forth game and we feel real good about getting the W.”

MSU finished with 10 hits. The Bulldogs have now had double-digit hits in five straight games. Ryan Powers, Luke Adkins, Sneed and Duffy all had multiple hits. Ryan Powers has now hit safely in 10 straight games.

Southern Miss finished with nine hits. Davis had three hits, while Ewing had two hits for the Golden Eagles.

MSU returns to the road for Easter weekend play in the Southeastern Conference. The Bulldogs face the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. MSU and UT are scheduled to play at 6 p.m. CT Friday, noon CT Saturday and noon CT Sunday. All three MSU-UT games will be televised regionally by SportSouth.