Panthers Ride Big Inning, Solid Pitching To 10-1 Win Over State
March 23, 2004 | Baseball
Official Game Statistics (PDF)
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Wes Letson threw seven innings of four-hit baseball Tuesday night as Birmingham-Southern (16-5) defeated No. 24 Mississippi State 10-1 at Dudy Noble Field.
Letson (3-1), a crafty senior left-hander, faced 25 batters, a run on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
Bailey Pratt threw two innings of one-hit baseball as the Panthers won their 16th straight.
"Letson is a veteran pitcher," MSU coach Ron Polk said. "They have a veteran team, with a bunch of juniors and seniors. Most of these players played on the team we faced last year. They have some talented players.
"At the same time, we had a chance to make some plays and didn't do that. You can't let a team have four and five outs per inning."
Led by former MSU assistant coach Brian Shoop, the Panthers defeated State for a third straight time. Birmingham-Southern (16-5) struck for three runs in the second inning and removed all doubt from the contest with seven runs in the third inning. Three MSU errors played a part in extending the innings.
In the second inning, BSC started things with a walk to Connor Robertson. Ryan Griffith followed with a hit and an error loaded the bases. Jared Walker followed with a two-run single. Michael Wynder followed with an RBI single.
In the third inning, the Panthers scored all of their runs with two outs. A two-run double by Michael Wynder was the big blow in the inning. Walker, Matt Barber, Matt Bogue and Michael Cline also had RBI singles in the inning.
The Bulldogs scored in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Steve Gendron.
MSU (13-5) finished with five hits. Gendron had his 10th multiple hit game of the season and ran his hitting streak to nine games. Jeffrey Rea also had two hits. Craig Tatum was hitless and saw his hit streak end at 10 games.
For the Panthers, Walker and Wynder each had three hits and three RBIs. Matt Barber added three hits, while Cline and Griffith each had two hits.
Eric Ebers (2-1) allowed 10 hits and did not make it out of the third inning for MSU. Todd Doolittle finished the third inning and worked into the fifth inning. Brett Cleveland and Andy Wilson combined for four innings of shutout relief for the Bulldogs.
MSU concludes a season-opening run of 19 games in Mississippi Wednesday, hosting Samford (3-14) at 6:30 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN 10, MISSISSIPPI STATE 1
BSC (16-5) 037 000 000 - 10 17 1 MSU (13-5) 000 010 000 - 1 5 3WP-Letson (3-1). LP-Ebers (2-1). 2B-Godwin, Wynder, Gendron. T-2:35. A-1,308 (6,075 paid)
