Baseball Takes Top-15 Matchup from ECU

Tuesday, March 5

Starkville

3:00 PM

Mississippi State

11-1

#18 East Carolina

8-5

ECU

Mississippi State

Photo by: Trevor Birchett/MSU Athletics

Baseball Takes Top-15 Matchup from ECU

March 05, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Quotes (PDF)Photo Gallery (Web)

Westburg gets three hits, reaches base four times in victory over Pirates

STARKVILLE – On a chilly afternoon at Dudy Noble Field, the No. 8 Mississippi State baseball team closed out another victory over a top 25 opponent, toppling No. 14 East Carolina, 4-1. Six Bulldog pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts and allowed just four Pirate hits in the game.

State (11-1) capitalized on its opportunities, scoring single runs in the first, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, while ECU (8-5) scratched across its lone run in the sixth inning.

On the mound, redshirt-junior Keegan James (2-0) got the start and threw two scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts to earn the win. Redshirt-junior Jack Eagan threw one scoreless inning, before senior Peyton Plumlee came on to throw three innings, allowing one run and striking out four.

The trio of redshirt-junior Trysten Barlow, junior Colby White and graduate student Cole Gordon each tossed scoreless innings to help close out the win. Barlow fanned three batters, White struck out one and Gordon fanned four in the ninth inning, with one reaching via a wild pitch.

Sophomore Jordan Westburg was 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored to lead the Diamond Dawgs at the plate. Senior Jake Mangum posted his 292nd career hit in the first inning and came around to score the game's first run. Senior Elijah MacNamee drove in a pair of runs and junior Gunner Halter collected the only other RBI on the night for MSU.

Quotable
Head Coach Chris Lemonis
On the team's pitching performance
"[I was] very pleased, I thought everybody did their job. The game played out for us pretty good late too, in the seventh having the three lefties coming up to the plate, really four lefties [and] being able to use our bullpen the way we wanted to. I thought the guys were great. We didn't play great defense, played a little sloppy. We haven't done that all year, so maybe it was a little bit of the weather. We have to be a little bit better in that."

Sophomore Jordan Westburg
On if the pitching staff takes pressure off of the offense
"Well, they're [pitching staff] doing an outstanding job, first and foremost. We don't win these games without their pitching performances. Our offense doesn't really think like that. I think it's pedal to the metal, no matter what the score is, no matter what's going on, no matter if we had a three-up, three-down inning. We're still going to go out in the next inning and try to put up as many [runs] as we can."

Quick Hitters
Mississippi State
Jordan Westburg – Reached base in all four plate appearances, including three hits. Doubled and scored a run in the seventh inning.
Jake Mangum – Posted one hit and scored the first run of the game. He now has 292 career hits.
Cole Gordon – Gordon extended his scoreless innings streak to 23 2/3 in picking up his fourth save of the season. So far in 2019, Gordon has worked eight scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts.
'Pening it Down – The bullpen threw seven innings, allowing one run and striking out 12. MSU relievers allowed three hits, one run and walked one.
Dawgs on a Roll – Mississippi State has won seven-straight games heading into a midweek meeting with Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

ECU
Top of the Order – Three of ECU's four hits came from the top three in the batting order, with Lane Hoover, Bryant Packard and Spencer Brickhouse each collecting hits.

Scoring Recap
Bottom First
Jake Mangum and Jordan Westburg led off the game with singles and moved up one base on a Tanner Allen groundout. Elijah MacNamee opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Mangum.
Mississippi State 1, ECU 0

Bottom Fifth
After Rowdey Jordan walked to start the fifth inning, he was moved to second on a Dustin Skelton sacrifice bunt. One batter later, Gunner Halter singled through the right side, scoring Jordan from second to give MSU a two-run lead.
Mississippi State 2, ECU 0

Top Sixth
A one-out walk came around to score on a Turner Brown double to right-center field against reliever Peyton Plumlee in his third inning of work.
Mississippi State 2, ECU 1

Bottom Sixth
A leadoff walk came around to score for the second-straight inning, as MacNamee took four-straight balls to open the frame. He moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a ground out. He scored on Hayden Jones' dribbler up the middle of a drawn in infield, as the shortstop mishandled the ball.
Mississippi State 3, ECU 1

Bottom Seventh
Westburg ripped a one-out double into right-center field and came around to score on a two-out base RBI single by MacNamee.
Mississippi State 4, ECU 1

Up Next
The second game of a five-game homestand arrives on Wednesday, March 6 at 3 p.m. versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Dudy Noble Field. The Diamond Dawgs will wear teal uniforms to honor late MSU softball student-athlete Alex Wilcox and show support for all of those who have battled or are battling ovarian cancer.