Mississippi State
7-3
#21 UCLA
4-5
Sensational Outing By Hudson Spoiled In 2-1 Loss At No. 9 UCLA
March 05, 2016 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Mississippi State came out on the short end of a pitchers' duel Friday night.
No. 17 MSU scored in the ninth inning and left the bases loaded but a strikeout ended things as No. 9 UCLA escaped with a 2-1 victory in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bulldogs (7-3) saw a six-game win streak snapped in their first road game of the season.
Junior right-hander Dakota Hudson (1-1) was sensational for a second straight week for the Bulldogs. Hudson worked a career-long seven innings, allowing five hits and two runs (one earned), with six strikeouts and three walks.
UCLA sophomore right-hander Griffin Canning (2-0) earned the win after coming within one out of a complete-game shutout. In 8 2/3 innings of work, Canning allowed five hits and one run (earned), with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
In the MSU ninth inning, the Bulldogs eventually got to a tiring Canning, who was lifted after 135 pitches.
After a flyout started the ninth inning, Jake Mangum drew a walk. Pinch-hitter Cole Gordon grounded out, sending Mangum to second base. From there, Canning was chased by a line drive RBI-double off the outfield wall by Ryan Gridley.
In relief, UCLA turned to Tucker Forbes who hit a pair of batters to load the bases. Brian Gadsby entered in relief and got a strikeout to nail down his second save.
MSU had one other scoring threat in the sixth inning. In that frame, Luke Alexander and Jack Kruger each had hits. A pair of strikeouts snuffed that threat.
UCLA (4-5) scored an unearned run on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the second inning and stretched the lead to 2-0 on an RBI-double by Luke Persico.
Each team finished with five hits. Kruger had his team-best sixth multiple hit game of the season.
MSU continues tournament play with a 3 p.m. CT start Saturday at Southern Cal. That contest will available on a local radio broadcast on WMXU-FM (106.1).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Canning, Griffin (2-0)
L: Hudson, Dakota (1-1)
S: Gadsby, Brian (2)
Batting:
2B: Gridley, Ryan 1
RBI: Gridley, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mangum, Jake 1
SB: Robson, Jacob 1
HBP: Brown, Cody 1 ; Marrero, Elih 1
Batting:
2B: Persico, Luke 1
RBI: Persico, Luke 1 ; Chatterton, Trent 1
SH: Chatterton, Trent 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stephens, Brett 1 ; Bono, Christoph 1
SB: Filia, Eric 1
