White Forces Winner-Take-All Finale in Fall World Series

Photo by: Trevor Birchett/MSU Athletics

White Forces Winner-Take-All Finale in Fall World Series

October 12, 2018 | Baseball

James, Cerantola combine on four-hit outing for Team White

STARKVILLE – The smell of the grill filled the air in the Left Field Lounge and there was baseball under the lights at Dudy Noble Field on Friday (Oct. 12), as Team White evened the best-of-three Fall World Series with Team Maroon. A solid start on the mound from Keegan James and multi-RBI efforts from Marshall Gilbert, Gunner Halter and Rowdey Jordan led White to a 9-4 win in game two of the series.

"We've played two similar games the last two night, which isn't necessarily a bad thing," said head coach Chris Lemonis. "We need to be better at avoiding the big inning, but on the flip side of that it means that our offense is doing a good job of creating the big inning. Keegan James gave his team a great start and Eric Cerantola held it together through a couple of hard innings. We also got good efforts from some guys at the plate, including Rowdey Jordan and Landon Jordan, along with the home run from Cole Gordon."

Team Maroon (1-1) looked to take control in the top of the first inning, as Jake Mangum walked to start the inning and came around to score two batters later on an Elijah MacNamee single. With two outs, Justin Foscue walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a Dustin Skelton double to make it 2-0 against James (1-0), who got the start for Team White (1-1).

That was all James surrendered, as the junior righthander retired the next 12 batters he faced before handing the ball off to freshman Eric Cerantola. Overall, James allowed two runs on two hits, struck out three and walked two in five innings of work. Cerantola allowed one run in each of his two innings of work, but held the lead for Team White, allowing two hits and two walks with one strikeout.

A first inning run for Team White was just the start, as Landon Jordan doubled to lead off the inning and came around to score on a Rowdey Jordan single with one out. After a scoreless second inning, Rowdey Jordan tripled and scored on a Halter sacrifice fly in the third inning to knot the score at 2-2.

A four-run fourth inning could have been bigger, as the first two hitters reached but were erased on a caught stealing and pickoff by reliever Kale Breaux. Cole Gordon homered to right field with two outs before a pair of hit batters and a walk loaded the bases. Hunter Blalock was hit following Gordon's homer and eventually scored on a wild pitch for the second run. After the wild pitch, Rowdey Jordan walked to reload the bases and JP Elkins relieved Breaux. Halter delivered his second and third RBIs of the game with a single, before Elkins got a strikeout to end the inning.

The sixth inning was another scoring inning for Team White, was Landon Jordan doubled, Jordan Westburg walked and both advanced a base on a wild pitch by Team Maroon reliever Josh Hatcher. Rowdey Jordan plated a run with a ground out. Halter followed with a walk and advanced to second base on a ground out, before crossing the plate on a two-out, two-RBI single by Gilbert.

Team Maroon got runs back in the sixth and seventh innings. A pair of one-out walks and a wild pitch set up an RBI ground out by Tanner Allen in the sixth. Foscue tripled to right field to start the seventh and scored on a wild pitch. While Team Maroon loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, Cerantola got a flyout to close out the win.

Tyler Spring got the start for Team Maroon on the mound and allowed two runs on six hits in three innings of work. He walked one and struck out two batters in the no decision. Breaux (0-1) surrendered four runs on one hit, walked four and hit two batters in the loss. Elkins allowed just one hit in 1.1 innings of work. He struck out three and walked two. Hatcher surrendered three runs on two hits with a pair of walks in one inning on the mound.

Mississippi State close out fall practice with game three of the Fall World Series at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 13 at Dudy Noble Field. Team White will serve as the home team, as assistant coach Jake Gautreau won the coin flip following game two. Admission is free and fans can enter through the Left Field Lounge entrance and sit in right field. No access to the grandstands will be granted.

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