Bats come alive for Diamond Dawgs in 11-4 win over South Carolina

A day after the Mississippi State bats went silent for the final eight innings, the Diamond Dawgs brought the bats to the park on Saturday.

It didn’t really matter who South Carolina put on the mound, State found success. The Bulldogs smashed five home runs from four different players and got a dominant relief appearance from Chase Hungate in an 11-4 win.

“I thought they responded,” coach Chris Lemonis said of his team. “I thought there were some big swings. Noah (Sullivan) and Ace (Reese) in the first, Joe Powell’s really opened it up and gave us a chance to breathe a little bit. Then I thought we had the ability to separate ourselves from them.”

When South Carolina tightened the game up in the middle innings at 6-4, the Diamond Dawgs answered with a run in four-consecutive innings to push the lead out. Hungate was also a big reason for the comfortable victory.

Evan Siary started the game for State and pitched 4.1 innings with five hits, four runs, two walks and five strikeouts. He surrendered just one run on two hits in the first four frames, but the Gamecocks would get a couple of home runs in the fifth to close the gap.

Hungate came in from there and shut things down as the senior pitched 4.2 hitless and scoreless innings and had just one walk with four strikeouts. He earned the win and moved to 2-1 on the season.

State offense comes back alive with the long ball

At the plate, State’s relentless offense was really the story. The Bulldogs got out to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning on a two-run shot from Noah Sullivan. State then left some meat on the bone in the second as two runners in scoring position with one out were left stranded.  

After Siary gave up a solo shot in the third to Henry Kaczmar, State fired back with a four-run bottom of the inning. Ace Reese hit a solo homer and then Joe Powell came through with a two-out, two-run double. A wild pitch added another run and it was 6-1.

Two more homers came off of Siary in the fifth as Kaczmar hit his second on a two-run shot and Blake Jackson got his first home run of the year to make it 6-4. The runs would then start to consistently come in for the Bulldog hitters as Hungate settled in on the mound.

“I think I executed pretty well,” Hungate said. “I tip my hat to the defense behind me. They made a lot of great plays and it made it easier for me to pitch. That boosted my confidence.”

Nolan Stevens had an RBI single in the fifth and home runs from Dylan Cupp and Reese pushed that advantage out to 8-4 after six innings. A sac fly from Gatlin Sanders in the seventh and a solo homer from Reed Stallman in the eighth put a bow on the game in the late innings and State was able to beat the weather.

State outhit the Gamecocks 12-5 in the game and only left four batters on base. State had five home runs with Cupp garnering his first career long ball.

Reese led the way with his 3-for-5 afternoon as he hit two more home runs to take his team-leading total to 11 on the year.

“He has a tendency to get big hits in big moments,” Lemonis said of Reese. “When he hits, it helps us win games. Some guys get them when the score’s big, but his are usually when the game is on the line. I thought he had a couple of big ones and the base hit in the first was huge just to get him going.”

Stallman was inserted in the game in the later innings and went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and a double and he also had a dazzling diving catch in left field to start the ninth. Stevens was also 2-for-2 with an RBI and two walks.

The Bulldogs recorded two more errors in the game on Saturday but overcame them.

State (18-13, 2-9 SEC) snapped a six-game SEC losing streak and will have a chance to take its first conference series of the year on Sunday. The two teams will battle in the rubber match at 1 p.m. with Karson Ligon (2-4, 7.33 ERA) on the mound for the Bulldogs. The Gamecocks have not yet named a starter.