State Rallies Past Birmingham-Southern 5-4
March 28, 2006 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Edward Easley doubled in the tying and go ahead runsin the seventh inning Tuesday night as top-ranked Mississippi State (20-1)edged Birmingham-Southern 5-4 before 3,024 fans at Dudy Noble Field.
The Panthers (13-9) out-hit the Bulldogs 14-6, with shortstop Matt Barberregistering a 4-for-4 plate performance. Easley and catcher Wyn Diggs hadtwo hits each for MSU.
Freshman Aaron Weatherford (2-0) struck out a season-high seven afterreplacing MSU starter Jon Crosby in the sixth. Crosby gave up four runs on10 hits and struck out five. Weatherford picked up the win with threescoreless innings of relief, while senior relief man Brett Cleveland retiredthe two batters he faced in the ninth to earn his fifth save.
Birmingham-Southern scored twice in the first inning to take the early lead.Billy Froehlich drew a two-out walk and scored when Blake Burton doubledinto the left-center field gap, and Brint Hardy singled Burton home for a2-0 BSC lead.
Brandon Hynick opened the second inning with his third home run of the yearas BSC expanded the lead to 3-0.
State cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the secondwithout the aid of a hit. Panther starter Blake Martin walked the firstthree batters he faced, struck out the next two, then struck Jeff Butts witha pinch for a run. A second run scored on a passed ball.
The Panthers extended their lead to 4-2 in the sixth. Allen Aubin doubled toright and scored when Hynick laced a single to left. MSU starter Jon Crosbygave up two more singles in the inning, giving way to freshman AaronWeatherford. Ronny Woods greeted Weatherford with a single to right thatloaded the bases, but the Bulldog rookie struck out the next two BSC battersto end the inning.
State took its first lead of the night in the seventh inning when theBulldogs batted through the order. Catcher Wyn Diggs beat out an infieldsingle, Jeff Butts reached on a throwing error and Jeffrey Rea singled upthe middle to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Diggs and Edward Easleyripped a double down the third base line, scoring Butts and Rea.
The six hits matched a season-low for the Bulldogs, who had their hands fullwith BSC starter Blake Martin. Martin allowed two runs on two hits with fourwalks and eight strikeouts. Relief pitcher Paul Jones replaced Martin in thefifth and was on the hill when the Bulldogs took the lead with a three-runburst in the seventh.
