Rebs Claim Lightning-Delayed Series Opener 11-4
April 29, 2005 | Baseball
Official Game Statistics (PDF)
OXFORD, Miss. -- Stephen Head, Barry Gunther and Zack Cozart had three hits and a home run apiece Friday night as Mississippi (30-13, 10-9 SEC) pounded out an 11-4 win in a weather-suspended series-opening game with No. 26 Mississippi State (28-13, 9-9 SEC). Play was suspended twice by lightning in the eighth inning before a rainstorm forced a Saturday completion of the game. It marked the third time this season and the first time on the road that MSU has had a game suspended by weather and completed the next day. It took nine minutes to complete the game Saturday.
The first six Rebels batters faced by MSU starter Alan Johnson (2-5) hit safely during a four-run UM burst as Mississippi claimed a 5-1 lead in the second inning.
The Bulldogs cut that lead in the fourth on a two-run home run by Brian Laninfa, his second blast of the year. But UM answered in the home half of the frame with a two-run home run by Head. The Rebels plated two more in the seventh on back-to-back solo shots by Gunther and Cozaart and exanded the lead with two more runs in the eighth in between stoppages of play due to lightning.
Holliman gave up four runs on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts over seven innings. He issued a pair of walks with one out and went 3-0 on the next batter before working out of a jam in the fifth and gave up just one run in the seventh when he walked Ed Easley to open the inning and gave up back-to-back singles by Jeffrey Rea and Jeff Butts.
Thomas Berkery had two hits, including his team-leading fifth home run of the season, a solo shot that tied the score at 1-1 in the second.
State scored twice in the fourth off Holliman and was poised to add more in the fifth when Bunky Kateon and Jeffrey Rea were issued one-out walks and Holliman went 3-0 against Jeff Butts. But Holliman retired Butts on a fly ball to left and struck out Brad Corley to end the inning. State threatened again two innings later when Ed Easley walked, advanced on an infield groundout, and Rea and Butts followed with back-to-back singles. Holliman again avoided the big inning, striking out Corley for the third time in the game to leave the inning with a 7-4 lead.
Johnson was charged with nine runs on 13 hits -- five on 0-2 counts, during his 6-1/3 inning stint. Johnson walked four and struck out three. Freshman Jesse Carver replaced Johnson in the seventh. The 15 hits was the second-most allowed by Bulldog pitching this year.
MISSISSIPPI 11, MSU 4
MSU (28-13) 010 200 100 -- 4- 7-0UM (30-13) 140 200 22x -- 11-15-0WP --- Mark Holliman (5-1). LP -- Alan Johnson (2-5). HR -- Thomas Berkery (5), Brian LaNinfa (2), Stephen Head, Barry Gunther (1). T -- 2:40. ATT -- 4,166.
