The game lived up to hype.
No. 10 Southern Miss, No. 4 Mississippi State. First top ten matchup between the two schools, and it came down to the final pitch between Southern Miss closer Camden Clark against heart of Mississippi State’s order.
“I mean the lights flashing, your songs playing, you got everybody up there singing up, cheering behind you,” Clark said. “You feel like you can beat anybody at the time. I knew I was going against the heart of their order. That’s something I'll have to do deeper in the season if we get to where we want to get to. So, it was just fun to go ahead and experience that a little bit,”
On a 1-2 pitch, Clark threw the first slider of the at-bat to strikeout Ryder Woodson with a man on first to secure the victory 7-6.
“Just a great ball game,” Southern Miss head coach Christian Ostrander said. “They are really good, and we knew that. We just had to try to go toe to toe with them and I thought our guys did a really good job at that. Obviously getting to a lead was crucial,”
Southern Miss took that lead in the bottom of the first inning when Drey Barrett mashed his second homer of the season. The ball traveled 450 feet just left of the scoreboard on a 1-1 slider from Bulldog starter Brendan Sweeny. The homer gave the home squad the early 3-0 lead.
“I just went up to bat and try not make the moment too big,” Barrett said. “I got the pitch I wanted and was able to hit over the wall.”
Barrett did not believe it when he was told in the dugout how far his homer had gone and needed to see proof on trackman.
Southern Miss added another run in the bottom of the second inning when Higdon walked with two outs. Joey Urban hit a ball sky high to the infield and Higdon ran full speed around the base path from first, and the short stop Woodson dropped the ball.
Higdon scored on the error.
“You don’t ever assume anything.” Ostrander said. “He [Higdon] did exactly what he’s supposed to do. He was hustling and he ended up not catching the ball. So in a one run game, you look back on those crucial moments.”
The play gave Southern Miss a 4-0 lead, before plating another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Seth Smith homered for the first time in his career. Mississippi State’s reliever Jack Gleason had struck out five straight before Smith came up to the plate. He took an inside fastball to right field for 373 feet.
“I thought it was going foul,” Smith said. “I knew a heater was coming, so I just said to myself don’t be late. I was praying it didn’t go foul, and I just saw it kept going and it felt awesome,”
Smith has battled his way back into the lineup after not getting the start in the beginning of the season.
“That was a big swing on a good pitch,” Ostrander said. “Again, in a one run game, that solo shot was huge,”
The story of the game early was that Ostrander threw four straight true freshmen against one of the best starting lineups in the country.
Dylan Causey, KL Farr, Bruce Littleton and Sam Mitchell went 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K, 2 BB. No freshman has given up an earned run yet this season.
“We we’re going to try and win this game, and we felt that was our best strategy for tonight,” Ostrander said. “Letting these younger guys taste it, but importantly not asking too much and just go get three out and I thought those guys did a really good job of that. They are showing poise and maturity for freshmen for sure,”
But Mississippi State wouldn’t go away quietly.
Redshirt freshman Teague Broadhead got the nod in the top of the fifth inning for Southern miss and got two groundouts to start the frame. Gehrig singled to the infield, on a tough play for Smith. Then Broadhead gave up a walk to Ace Reese after a what looked like a strikeout pitch.
Noah Sullivan doubled to right field on a ball that clipped off Higdon’s glove to score two. Then Reed Stallman singled to right field but was thrown out at second to end the frame.
In the seventh, James Nunnallee singled to lead off the inning for the Bulldogs, before Southern Miss reliever Kros Sivley hit Bryce Chance with a pitch putting runners on first and second with no outs. After a pop out, Ace Reese singled to load the bases with one out.
Josh Och entered and punched out Sullivan, but Stallman poked one to left field that traveled just 65 miles per hour off the bat to tie the game. Woodson then singled up the middle to give Mississippi State their first lead of the contest at 6-5.
But Southern Miss has been battle tested and they showed composure in the seventh inning.
Matthew Russo led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single and Barrett doubled to put runners at corners with one out.
Bulldog freshman reliever Maddox Miller, an Oak Grove alum, then struck out back to back Southern Miss batters and both passed the catcher allowing the tying and go ahead runs to score.
Clark closed the game in the ninth.
Ostrander pointed to the early wins Southern Miss has had as a big reason the Golden Eagles hug on to win that game.
“Every game is different in itself,” Ostrander said. “You can always flip the pages back and go ‘You know what? We can do it. We’ve done it before.’ That’s the kind of story we are writing. I’m very appreciative of what these guys are doing and my coaches are doing an unbelievable job of preparing them.”
Mississippi State head coach Brian O’Conner pointed to the road environment and said that his players must be great to win on the road.
“When you play on the road, especially in this environment you just got to be a little bit better,” O’Conner said. “Especially in the early part of the game, we just didn’t get off to a great start…we just didn’t do what we needed to do in the first part of the game when you’re on the road.”
For Mississippi State, the loss drops them to 11-2 and will host Lipscomb this weekend in a three game series. Southern Miss improves to 11-1 and will host Nicholls State on Wednesday night at Pete Taylor Park.
