Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Becker, MSU Blank Rebels to Force Rubber Game on Sunday
April 02, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Sophomore Stephanie Becker hurled a four-hit shutout, and freshman Sam Lenahan drove in two of Mississippi State's three runs as the Bulldogs blanked Ole Miss 3-0 Saturday afternoon at the MSU Softball Field to even their three-game Southeastern Conference series.
Becker went the distance for the second time in her career and improved her record to 5-3. The Aurora, Ill., native struck out seven as MSU forced the rubber game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller picked up his 998th career win as the Bulldogs improved 18-18 overall and 6-6 in SEC play.
Ole Miss fell to 13-25 and 3-10 in league play with the loss.
"I thought we did a great job bouncing back after yesterday. Coach (Alan) Colglazier and Sam (Lenahan) did a great job calling the game," Becker said. "I think we will be ready for tomorrow, and I'm excited that we have the opportunity to win the series."
Lenahan put the decisive run across in the bottom of the first thanks to the tough early afternoon sun. Ali Bainbridge opened the inning with a walk and took second on a Ka'ili Smith ground ball. Bainbridge came home on Lenahan's towering fly ball that was lost in the sun by UM shortstop Natalie Nimmo.
After Becker avoided trouble with runners at the corners in the top of the third, the Bulldog offense responded with two additional runs in the home half of the frame.
"Stephanie set the tone for us today, and we needed a performance like that after yesterday," Miller said. "We still left a lot of runners out there offensively, but we got enough runs to win and made some good plays defensively behind Stephanie.
It was a good team win, and now we have a chance to win the series and stay ahead of some people in the SEC," Miller said. "It would be great for our ballclub to be able to get the series win here at home."
Sophomore Shelby Fisher, who collected two hits in Friday's loss, and Smith opened the inning with back-to-back walks. Nesbit grounded out to second to put both runners in scoring position, and Lenahan put MSU up 2-0 as she hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field that easily scored pinch-runner Briana Bell.
Freshman Heidi Shape, who had a pair of two-out hits on Friday, added another to score Smith with the final run of the game.
Becker made the lead hold up as she retired 11 of the last 14 Ole Miss batters she faced.
Brittany Barnhill fell to 1-11 on the season as she was touched for all three runs and three hits in 3.1 innings. She walked six and struck out five in the game.
Lindsey Perry allowed one hit over the final 2.2 innings for the Rebels.
Mississippi State 3, Ole Miss 0 (Apr 02,
2011 at Starkville,
Miss.)
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Ole Miss............ 000 000 0 - 0 4 0 (13-25, 3-10 SEC)
Mississippi State... 102 000 X - 3 4 1 (18-18, 6-6 SEC)
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Pitchers: Ole Miss - Brittany Barnhill; Lindsey Perry(4) and Kelly Nolan. Mississippi State -
Stephanie Becker and Sam Lenahan.
Win-Stephanie Becker(5-3) Loss-Brittany Barnhill(1-11) T-1:43 A-613
Weather: 70 degrees, sunny
