Wesley Deals As Bulldog Bats Come Alive At South Alabama

Friday, February 24

Mobile, Ala.

5:30 PM

Mississippi State

8-4

South Alabama

7-6

Mississippi State

South Alabama

Wesley Deals As Bulldog Bats Come Alive At South Alabama

February 24, 2023 | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Brian Ogden, Associate Director/Communications

MOBILE, Ala. – Aspen Wesley threw her best game of the year, but even if she hadn't, Mississippi State's bat provided plenty of offense in an 8-4 victory at South Alabama on Friday night.

Wesley threw 6.0 innings, her longest outing of the young season, and needed just 88 pitches. She struck out a season-high eight batters, which was just one shy of her career high set in 2021. The Philadelphia, Mississippi, native allowed four hits and just one run.

"I really loved how Aspen bounced back from her last outing in Clearwater last weekend," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "I thought she looked poised and focused, and she really made a focused effort to shut them down after we scored."

Offensively, State (8-4) did it with both the long ball and their short game. The Bulldogs collected a dozen hits, including four infield singles. Aquana Brownlee and Chloe Malau'ulu both homered. Brownlee finished the day with four RBIs and matched her career high with three hits.

The teams traded a run apiece through the first two innings, before State took the lead for good in the third. A four-run sixth, highlighted by Brownlee's homer and an RBI double from Jackie McKenna, later followed.

McKenna, Malau'ulu and Brownlee were joined by Kiersten Landers to give State four players with multi-hit games. Malau'ulu finished with two RBIs.

Quotables

Samantha Ricketts on the different ways MSU generated runs between the two games on Friday…
"I thought we did a good job all day offensively of sticking with the gameplan and knowing when to be patient and when to be aggressive in the zone. We saw a lot different types of pitching, some good pitching there against South Alabama, and it's good to see production up and down the lineup all day long from the hitters."

Aspen Wesley on her season high in strikeouts…
"I don't know. I just was out there doing what I'm told to do. I wasn't even thinking about strikeouts. I was just focusing on my pitches. After they had scored in that second inning, I told myself I needed to seriously lock in every single inning, no matter if I'm tired or not, because I know my team is going to have my back. I just made sure I was locked in every single time."

Aquana Brownlee on her home run…
"I found my alter ego today again, and I knew that I was going to show out. She threw me three of the same pitches in a row, so she was really testing me. She threw me the same two pitches my last at-bat, and I popped up. Then she threw it again the first pitch of the next at-bat. I was expecting it."

Quick Hitters

Veteran Lineup – The Bulldogs started a lineup that featured nine seniors or graduates and just one freshman (Nadia Barbary).

Bulldog Bombs – MSU has hit at least one homer in seven straight games and has multiple long balls in three of those games … State is now 7-2 when hitting a homer this season.

Tale of Two Teams – The Bulldogs drew just one walk after collecting 10 against Tulsa earlier in the day … Instead, MSU rattled off 12 hits, including two homers, as opposed to just five hits against the Golden Hurricane … four of State's hits never left the infield.

Aquana Brownlee – Went 3-for-4, including her team-leading third homer of the year … collected a team-leading four RBIs, which was one shy of her career high … hits matched her career high set earlier this year.

Kiersten Landers – Collected her third multi-hit game of the year … also scored a run.

Chloe Malau'ulu – Hit her team-leading third home run of the year … went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Jackie McKenna – Collected her team-leading fourth double of the year … went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Shea Moreno – Delivered a sacrifice fly as a pinch hitter.

Aspen Wesley – Struck out a season-high eight batters, one shy of her career high … did not allow a hit to the Jaguars top four hitters … went 6.0 innings, allowing four hits, on 88 pitches … retired the side in order four times.

Scoring Recap

Top 1
Chloe Malau'ulu hit a one-out, solo home run to center field.
Mississippi State 1, South Alabama 0

Bottom 2
Sasha Willems hit a ground-rule double with one out. With two outs, Shelby Garrett also doubled to score Willems.
Mississippi State 1, South Alabama 1

Top 3
Malau'ulu, Kiersten Landers and Paige Cook all beat out infield singles to open the inning. With one out, Shea Moreno pinch hit and delivered a sacrifice fly to left that scored Malau'ulu from third.
Mississippi State 2, South Alabama 1

Top 5
With one out, Cook reached on a throwing error by the shortstop. Aquana Brownlee then hit a two-run homer to left.
Mississippi State 4, South Alabama 1

Top 6
Kat Wallace drew a leadoff walk and took second on a wild pitch. She scored on Jackie McKenna's double into left. Saleyna Daniel pinch ran for McKenna at second and scored on Malau'ulu's single up the middle. Malau'ulu took second on a wild pitch. Landers beat out a ground ball to third that advanced Malau'ulu to third. The first baseman attempted to throw behind Malau'ulu and the ball got away, allowing Landers to move up to second. Both runners came home on Brownlee's two-out bloop single into right field.
Mississippi State 8, South Alabama 1

Bottom 7
Victoria Ortiz singled into left field then took second on a wild pitch. Willems and Odalys Cordova walked to load the bases. With one out, Sophia Mendoza walked to score Ortiz. Marley Sims then singled into left field, scoring Willems. The ball was bobbled in left field, which allowed Cordova to score as well.
Mississippi State 8, South Alabama 4

On Deck

Mississippi State continues its stay at the South Alabama Invitational on Saturday with a pair of games against Louisiana Tech and Furman. The Bulldogs' first game with the Lady Techsters is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT.

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