Baseball Splits Scrimmage at Jacksonville State

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – In its lone scrimmage of the fall, Mississippi State baseball split a pair of five-inning contests at Jacksonville State on Sunday (Sept. 30), helping the Gamecocks open up the brand-new Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

Offensive leaders included Jake Mangum with two hits and one run scored in the two games. Justin Foscue had a pair of extra base hits – one in each game – scored twice and drove in one run. JT Ginn and Basiel Williams each reached base twice and scored a run in game two; Ginn with two walks and Williams with a walk and a hit.

Cole Gordon was the lone Bulldog hitter to drive in multiple runs with his two-RBI single in game two.

Game One: Mississippi State 3, Jacksonville State 0

It was a solid showing on the mound for the Bulldogs in game one of its scrimmage vs. the Gamecocks, as Ginn and Jared Liebelt combined for the shutout, while Marshall Gilbert collected two of MSU's six hits, including an RBI single in the fifth inning.

Ginn tossed four innings and faced one over the minimum, striking out four. Of the other eight outs he recorded, five came via ground out and three were fly outs. The lone hit surrendered by the freshman was a third-inning single.

While Ginn was limiting the Gamecocks hitters, Mississippi State was able to plate a pair of runs in the third inning and scratch one across in the fifth.

The third inning started with back-to-back base runners, as Josh Hatcher walked to lead off the inning and Marshall Gilbert singled to put two runners on base. Gunner Halter then hit a ground ball to shortstop that was misplayed, allowing the runners to advance, and the JSU shortstop compounded the error with another on an errant throw to first. The second error allowed Hatcher to score and moved Gilbert and Halter into scoring position. Rowdey Jordan the sent one up the middle for a base hit and scored Gilbert from third.

An RBI single from Gilbert in the fifth inning extended the Dawgs lead to 3-0. Foscue led off the inning with a double to center field and came around two batters later on the Gilbert knock.

Liebelt closed out the game on the mound with a scoreless inning, hitting one batter.

Game Two: Jacksonville State 8, Mississippi State 7
The second game of the day was a high-scoring contest that included four lead changes and 15 runs. The Gamecocks eventually walked off with an 8-7 victory.

Jacksonville State scored in all but one inning, with freshman Eric Cerantola tossing a scoreless third frame for the Bulldogs. Brandon Smith took the ball first in game two, throwing two innings and allowing two runs – one earned – on four hits.

JSU benefitted from a throwing error in the first inning, as a grounder up the middle with one out looked to be a double play, but an errant throw extended the inning and put a runner in scoring position, before Cole Frederick singled up the middle to plate the game's opening run.

Mississippi State took its first lead of the game in the second inning on a pair of extra base hits. Elijah Macnamee walked to start the frame and Foscue followed with an RBI triple. After a strikeout, Hayden Jones doubled down the right field line to drive in Foscue and give MSU the 2-1 lead.

A hit batter and a pair of singles from Jacksonville State knotted the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the second inning and the Gamecocks recaptured the lead with a three-run fourth inning.

The first three batters reached without a hit and all came around to score. Kale Breaux came on to start the inning on the mound for Mississippi State and hit the first batter he faced before walking the second. After Denver McQuary came out of the bullpen and hit the first batter he faced to load the bases with no out. McQuary struck out the next two batters before Isaiah Magwood doubled to left field to bring home two runs. A wild pitch scored the third run of the inning and JSU led 5-2 heading to the final inning of the game.

The final inning featured six hits, six walks and eight runs.

Mississippi State scored five runs in the top half of the inning, with Mangum and Williams getting the inning started with back-to-back singles. After Mangum scored on back-to-back wild pitches, Cole Gordon singled to plate Williams and make it a 5-4 contest. Walks to Tanner Allen and Ginn loaded the bases and Landon Jordan delivered a one-out two-RBI single to give MSU the lead back, 6-5. An Anthony Hickman sacrifice fly to center field capped the scoring and sent the Bulldogs to the bottom of the fifth with a 7-5 lead.

Colby White entered the game for MSU and saw the first four JSU hitters reach base safely. A single was followed by a pair of hits to load the bases. Brook Brannon delivered the game-tying knock with a single to left field, scoring two. A pop out accounted for the first out of the inning, before the third walk of the inning re-loaded the bases. Hatcher entered on the mound and allowed the winning run to score on a wild pitch.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Baseball Splits Scrimmage at Jacksonville State

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Players Mentioned

Tanner Allen

Kale Breaux

Justin Foscue

Marshall Gilbert

Cole Gordon

Josh Hatcher

Rowdey Jordan

Jared Liebelt

Jake Mangum

Denver McQuary

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