Rebs Win Pitching Duel, 1-0 In Mayor's Trophy Game
April 11, 2006 | Baseball
* Official Statistics (PDF)
JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi shortstop Zack Cozart's lead-off home run inthe second inning proved to be the game-winning blow Tuesday night asMississippi (20-13) nipped No. 8 Mississippi State 1-0 in a pitching duelbefore 5,836 fans at Smith-Wills Stadium. The Rebels held MSU (25-7)scoreless for the first time this year en route to posting their fifthstraight in the series
Rebel sophomore Will Kline (1-2), in his second start of the season,scattered five hits and established career highs with seven innings pitchedand nine strikeouts. He got one-inning shutout relief appearances from CodySatterwhite and Garrett White, who earned his fourth save.
Mississippi State freshman Matt Lea (5-1) sustained his first career lossdespite turning in a career-best pitching performance himself. Lea gave upfour hits, walked three and struck out six in a career-longest eight-inningstart. Bulldog senior relief pitcher Brett Cleveland gave up a hit in ascoreless ninth inning.
Both teams had opportunities to break open the closely-contested game,particularly Mississippi State, which loaded the bases but failed to scorein the first and ninth innings. Edward Easley and Thomas Berkery deliveredone-out singles off Kline in the first inning and Joseph Hunter reached on atwo-out fielding error to load the bases. But Kline got Jeff Butts to groundout to second to end the threat. State got one-out singles by Brad Jones andJeffrey Rea in the fifth only to have that threat erased when Easleygrounded into a double play.
In the ninth the Bulldogs threatened again. Mitch Moreland opened the framewith a walk, went to second on a wild pitch. With one out Jeff Butts wasstruck by a pitch and after Joseph McCaskill flied out to right, MichaelRutledge drew a two-out walk to load the bases. But White struck outpinch-hitter Matt Richardson, the 11th by UM pitching on the night, to endthe game and preserve the win.
The Bulldogs worked around numerous Rebel scoring threats.
C.J. Ketchum reached second base with a two-out throwing error but was leftstranded when Lea retired Chris Coghlan on a soft grounder back to themound. Cozart walked to open the fourth inning but was nailed attempting tosteal second on an accurate throw by catcher Edward Easley. Catcher JustinBrashear singled through the right side of the infield to open the fifth,was bunted over to second base and advanced to third on Justin Henry'sinfield single. But C.J. Ketchum grounded into a double play to end that UMthreat.
An inning later the Rebels threatened again. Coghlan was struck by a pitchto open the inning and promptly stole second. Again Lea put down the threat,ending the inning by sandwiching a pair of fly ball outs around a walk andclosing the frame with an infield groundout.
UM made one more charge in the ninth with Cleveland on the mound for MSU.Jon Jon Hancock beat out an infield single and raced to second on MichaelRutledge's wide throw to first base. Pinch runner JoJo Tann moved to thirdbase on an infield groundout but Cleveland left him stranded there when hefanned Logan Power to end the inning.
The teams were a combined 0-for-14 with base-runners in scoring position.
Berkery's first inning single extended his school-record hit streak to 29games, tying as the fifth-longest in Southeastern Conference history.
Mississippi State continues its six-game road run this weekend at Auburn.Friday's series-opener is set for 7 p.m. at Plainsman Park.
