Dogs Rally In Ninth To Nip APSU 4-3
March 04, 2005 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - An errant throw on a hard-hit ground ball in the infield allowed the game-winning run to come home Friday afternoon as No. 17 Mississippi State (4-0) rallied to defeat Austin Peay 4-3 in the final game on the opening day of the 2005 National Bank of Commerce Classic. A sun-drenched Dudy Noble Field crowd of 1,312 witnessed a rather bizarre ninth inning in which the Bulldogs plated a pair of two-out runs to escape with their fourth victory of the season. The Governors, 11-6 winners over Kansas in Friday's NBC Classic opener, moved to 5-3.
Nursing a 3-2 lead, APSU starter Rowdy Hardy (2-1) retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth inning before freshman Michael Rutledge's two-strike fly ball got lost in the sun by the Austin Peay left fielder. MSU junior left fielder Jeff Butts followed with a two-strike bloop single into left field, easily scored Rutledge with the game-tying run. After Butts stole second, freshman Ed Easley followed with a hard chopper to second base. Easley beat the contact out for an infield hit. However, the Austin Peay second baseman was off target on his throw to first. The throw sailed wide of the bag, allowing Butts to race home with the winning run.
"I hate to win a game like that," MSU head coach Ron Polk said. "Both kids pitched their hearts out. It came down to errors. They made two and we made all the plays. That was the difference in this game."
The contest was a well-played pitcher's duel between MSU senior right-hander Alan Johnson and Austin Peay's Rowdy Hardy, a preseason second-team all-American selection.
Hardy (2-1) went the distance, allowing nine hits and four runs (two earned). Hardy struck out six and walked one before falling victim to the Governors' bad luck in the ninth inning.
"He really had some nasty stuff out there," Polk said. "He is the type of pitcher we will face every Friday night and some Saturdays in the Southeastern Conference. He had great command of his pitches."
Johnson pitched 7-2/3 innings, allowing six hits and three runs (all earned). Johnson, who struck out nine and walked one, appeared headed for the win until giving up a two-out bloop single to Jacob Crass and a season-first two-run home run to Jared Walker.
Prior to the ninth inning, the Bulldogs had plated a pair of runs on ground balls. MSU scored first in the second inning when Rutledge doubled and later came home on Bunky Kateon¹s fielder's choice grounder. Tommy Smith's RBI double knotted the score for Austin Peay in the fifth, and MSU regained the lead in the seventh when Kateon singled, moved to third on a double by Rutledge, and scored on an APSU fielding miscue.
The Bulldogs out-hit the Governors 9-7. Rutledge laced a pair of doubles and was MSU's lone multi-hit performer. Sophomore Mike Valentine (1-0) pitched the final 1-1/3 innings of the game and notched his first career win. Walker and Chris Hyde each had two hits for the Governors.
The NBC Classic continues Saturday at Dudy Noble Field when Austin Peay takes on Kansas at 11 a.m. and MSU tests the KU Jayhawks at 4:30 p.m. Senior right-hander Todd Doolittle is scheduled to make his first start of 2005 in that contest while Kansas (12-7) will counter with left-hander Mike Zagurski (3-1). MSU and KU wrap up the NBC Classic Sunday at noon .
