No. 23 Bulldogs Slug Past Illinois for Doubleheader Sweep

Friday, March 9

Starkville

4:00 PM

Mississippi State

18-3

Illinois (DH-1)

9-7

Illinois

Mississippi State

Morgan Bell slugged her second career grand slam as the Bulldogs swept Illinois on Friday night.

No. 23 Bulldogs Slug Past Illinois for Doubleheader Sweep

March 09, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game One Box Score Game One Box Score (PDF)Game Two Box Score Game Two Box Score (PDF) Photo Gallery

STARKVILLE, Miss. – No. 23 Mississippi State softball (19-3) slugged five home runs and scored a total of 21 runs to sweep Illinois (9-8) over Friday's doubleheader at Nusz Park.

State's second three-bomb game of the season lifted the Bulldogs to a 9-5 victory over the Fighting Illini in the first game of the series. Senior Morgan Bell slugged her second grand slam of her career to highlight game two as MSU capped the doubleheader sweep with a 12-1 victory in five innings.

Seniors Holly Ward (8-2) and Cassady Knudsen (7-1) both tossed complete games and combined for 11 total strikeouts.

Mississippi State scored early and often in game one against the Illini. Junior Kat Moore led off the inning with a single to second base before freshman Mia Davidson returned to her slugging ways with a home run to deep center field to put the Bulldogs on top. After junior Sarai Niu got on base with a one-out walk, senior Carmen Carter knocked the second home run of the first inning and the first of her career with a shot to left field to extend MSU's lead to 4-0.

The Bulldog offense continued to click in the second inning as State was able to bat around with the help of five hits. Redshirt junior Bevia Robinson and Moore sparked the big inning with back-to-back, one-out singles before Davidson slugged a double to left center to plate Robinson. Senior Reggie Harrison would clear the bases with a home run to left field, giving MSU an 8-0 lead.

The Bulldogs would load the bases with a Niu double and walks to junior Emily Heimberger and Carter, but the Illini recorded a strikeout and a groundout to first to retire the side.

Ward was able to keep Illinois off the board for the first three innings, but the Illini manufactured a run in the fourth with a couple singles and infield groundouts to slice MSU's lead to 8-1.

The Bulldogs would answer back in the home half of the inning. MSU led off the inning by loading the bases after back-to-back singles by Niu and Heimberger and a walk to Carter. Bell would plate the run and earn an RBI by drawing a bases-loaded walk. Illinois forced three straight infield grounders, making two plays at home to keep the damage to a lone run.

State looked poised to cap a run-rule victory, but Illinois played spoiler in the top of the fifth as the Illini scored two runs on two hits and two MSU errors to cut the lead down to 9-3 in favor of the Bulldogs.

After a quiet sixth inning, the Illini led off the seventh with three straight singles to plate a run and bring MSU's lead down to 9-4. After Davidson threw a runner out in a steal attempt and infield grounder brought another Illini home to make it a four-run game, but Niu snagged a ground ball down the line to make the play at first to end the game.

Ward held on for the complete-game victory, improving to 8-2 on the season. She allowed five runs, four earned, off 10 hits and two walks, while striking out six.

In game two, Illinois was able to squeaked across the first run of the game in the first inning. With two runners one with two outs after a couple singles, a third Illini single by Maddi Done brought one run home, but sophomore Maddie Dorsett threw a rocket to third to throw out an Illini trying to advance on the plate to retire the side.

Once again Moore led off the bottom of the first with an infield single and advanced into scoring position off an Illini error. After a one-out Harrison walk to put runners on the corners, Niu singled through the right side to lock the game up at 1-1. Heimberger followed with a single to the pitcher, scoring Harrison and putting the 'Dogs on top 2-1. Carter knocked the third straight RBI single of the inning before Bell's sacrifice fly plated the final run of the first, extending MSU's lead to 4-1.

Dorsett led off the bottom of the second with a single to shortstop and came home on Davidson's second home run of the doubleheader and she crushed a ball to center field to give MSU a 6-1 lead. In the bottom of third, Carter slugged her first triple of the season and would come around to score on a wild pitch.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases to lead off the bottom of the fourth after a Davidson double and walks to Harrison and Niu. Heimberger was hit by a pitch during her at bat to get on board and extend the lead to 8-1. Bell delivered the final blow with a grand slam shot down the left field line.

Illinois singled to lead off the fifth, but Knudsen struck out two before Dorsett snagged a fly ball in the center to wrap up a 12-1 victory for the Bulldogs.

Knudsen earned the victory, improving to 7-1 in the circle. The right-hander allowed just one run off five hits and struck out five over 5.0 innings of work.

ON DECK
With rain in Saturday's forecast, both contests originally scheduled for March 10 have been canceled. The Bulldogs will return to the field on Sunday, March 11 versus UMass-Lowell at 1:30 p.m. CT.

UPDATED WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday, March 9
Game 1 - Mississippi State def. Illinois, 9-5
Game 2 - Mississippi State def. Illinois, 12-1 (5 inn.)

Saturday, March 10
Game 3- UMass Lowell vs. Illinois – CANCELED
Game 4- Mississippi State vs. UMass Lowell – CANCELED

Sunday, March 11
Game 5 – UMass Lowell vs. Illinois – 11 a.m. CT
Game 6 – Mississippi State vs. UMass Lowell – 1:30 p.m. CT

BOMB SQUAD
For the second time this season, Mississippi State has slugged three home runs in a single game, matching the season-high total first set versus Mercer on March 3. As a team the Bulldogs have now slugged 20 home runs and are led by freshman Mia Davidson's seven bombs. Three Bulldogs have also knocked the first home runs of their career this season as Carmen Carter joins Macey Petrey and Bevia Robinson in the first-time homer club.

RING THE BELL
Morgan Bell's hot week at the plate continued with her slugging MSU's first grand slam since Caroline Seitz versus Georgia on April 15, 2017. The grand slam was the second of Bell's career as she became just the 11^th Bulldog in program history to record multiple grand slams over their career.

Bell has racked up a total of eight RBIs over MSU's three games this week, including a career-high five against Illinois in the final game of Friday's doubleheader. She is the second Bulldogs this season to record five or more RBI in the single game, joining Reggie Harrison who drove in five runs against Nebraska on Feb. 22.

WARD UP
With six strikeouts tonight, Holly Ward jumped Stephanie Comeaux (2004-07) for eighth all-time in program history with 270 career strikeouts. Ward is now just 21 strikeouts away from overtaking Kylie Vry (2010-13) for seventh place.
ADMISSION
Admission to all regular-season home games at Nusz Park is free.

PROMOTIONS
Sunday, March 11
vs. UMASS-LOWELL at 1:30 PM
- FREE Admission
- FREE Gift Cards & Prizes Throughout the Games
- FREE T-Shirts for ALL Bulldog Strikeouts!
- Up to 225 Hail State Rewards Points Per Game
- 150 Bully's Kids Club Points Per Game

WATCH LIVE
Sunday's contest versus UMass-Lowell will be streamed on the SEC Network+ via WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.

Mississippi State vs. UMass Lowell (Game Two)

LIVE STATS
Live stats for Sunday's contests at Nusz Park can be found HERE or by visiting msu.statbroadcast.com.

FOLLOW THE DAWGS
For more on Mississippi State softball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap".