Khal Stephen and clutch hits lead Diamond Dawgs to eighth-straight win
In the early part of the baseball schedule this season, Mississippi State has shown improvement in just about every area of the game with the exception of situational hitting.
That area showed up on Saturday against Evansville.
State got some big hits against the Purple Aces and another strong start from Khal Stephen to lead to an 8-3 victory. Outside of a tough eighth inning on the mound, it might have been the Bulldogs’ most complete game to date.
“(Assistant Coach Jake Gautreau) has been tireless. You have a little bit of a slow start, trying to get some guys going. You’re starting to see the ball in the air now and being able to pull the ball,” coach Chris Lemonis said. “The last couple of nights, there have been a lot of hard-hit balls to the outfield that we haven’t had most of the year.”
At the plate, State was 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had four hits with two outs as well. Dakota Jordan kept his hot streak going with a 2-for-3 evening at the plate with his seventh home run while driving in four runs and also getting a double. It was the third-straight ball game that the sophomore had hit the long ball.
Jordan might have been more excited when his teammate Hunter Hines drove one over the wall. Hines hit his first homer of the year and he and his teammates celebrated accordingly.
“I ran into coach Lem trying to get out there,” Jordan joked. “(Hines) came straight to me and he was letting me hear it. He was like, ‘I’m on the way. I’m coming for you.’ It was a hype moment.”
State’s offense had nine hits in the game but a good portion of them were consequential in a good way for the Diamond Dawgs. David Mershon extended his hitting streak to 10 games and had a walk with two runs scored to help the offense.
Stephen throws another stellar start
On the mound, it was yet another quality start for State starters on the weekend. Stephen has followed up a rough second outing of his tenure against Georgia Southern with consecutive dominant starts.
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The Purdue transfer went 6.0 strong frames with a hit, two walks, no runs and three strikeouts. He sat the side down in order in 3.0 of his frames.
“I think a lot of it is just confidence and falling back on preparation,” Stephen said. “Every week we’re always working to get better. You can’t let one roadblock take you off the course. I’m just staying the course and doing what it takes week in and week out. Stick to the process.”
Evan Siary and Logan Forsythe also threw scoreless innings of relief with a combine one hit, one walk and two strikeouts. Colby Holcombe was the only pitcher that struggled through his work as he gave up three hits, three runs on two home runs and had a walk with a strikeout in the eighth.
Luckily for State, it was too little too late for the Purple Aces. State had built a lead up to 8-0 after scoring in five-straight innings with three frames of two runs each. The Bulldogs also had another errorless ball game defensively.
Up Next
MSU (11-4) has won eight-straight games and has hopes of consecutive weekend sweeps. Sunday brings the Bulldogs and Evansville back to Dudy Noble Field for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Jurrangelo Cijntje (2-0, 1.15 ERA) will be on the mound for the Bulldogs.
“We want to win. It’s really that simple,” Lemonis said of moving forward. “And for us to be playing a little cleaner, a little bit better baseball. We want to be able to expand games, we have another hitter or two that we need to get hot. We need to see some arms this week that need to go out there and pitch. I think you’ve seen that, but we’ve still got work to do.”
