Another week of college baseball is in the books. Mississippi State found its first series win of the season against an SEC opponent, Ole Miss continued to excel, and Southern Miss was upended by another Sun Belt team for the first time this year.
Starting with Mississippi State (19-13, 3-9 SEC), the calls for Chris Lemonis’ job were growing awfully loud going into the weekend after a disastrous start to conference play. Through three weekends against nationally ranked competition in Texas, Oklahoma, and LSU, the Bulldogs came out with just one win and eight losses. That trend looked as if it might continue when South Carolina (19-14, 2-10) arrived in Starkville and delivered a 7-3 Mississippi State loss on Friday.
But then, the Bulldog bats came alive. Mississippi State won 11-4 on Saturday before closing out the series with a 6-0 win during a Sunday matinee. Ace Reese led the charge with two home runs on Saturday as Noah Sullivan hit a long ball of his own in each of the team’s wins.
Securing wins on the mound were Chase Hungate (2-1) and Karson Ligon (3-4). Ben Davis (1-2) suffered the loss on Friday when coming in for ace Pico Kohn, who allowed three runs through the first five innings.
Mississippi State has now won three of four games, including a midweek win over Memphis.
No. 9 Ole Miss (24-7, 8-4) traveled to Kentucky (18-11, 5-7), where severe weather threw a wrench in the schedule. During game one of Friday’s doubleheader, the Rebels outhit the Wildcats but managed to lose in extra innings, 5-4. Mike Bianco’s group bounced back with a 3-1 win later in the night, highlighted by a go-ahead home run off the bat of pinch-hitter Campbell Smithwick. Saturday saw another extra-inning contest, this time with the Rebels being on the right side of a 5-4 game.
Luke Hill was the star of the weekend, going 6-for-15 from the plate with two home runs and 5 RBI. The latter of the long balls sealed the Rebel win on Saturday and made for the first time since 2018 that Ole Miss has won three consecutive SEC series.
Securing wins on the mound were Will Mccausland (2-0) and Landon Waters (2-0). Mason Morris (3-1) suffered the loss on Friday when coming in for ace Hunter Elliott, who allowed four runs through the first five innings.
No. 13 Southern Miss (22-10, 8-4 Sun Belt) traveled to Marshall (16-16, 5-7), where the Golden Eagles got their first real taste of losing in conference play. Friday’s contest may have been one of the worst ways to lose a game as Southern Miss was up 3-0 before allowing a go-ahead inside-the-park grand slam to be the deciding factor.
During a Saturday doubleheader, Christian Ostrander’s group evened the series with a 4-3 win, thanks to a go-ahead double by Braden Luke. However, any momentum was squashed as the Thundering Herd then bolted to a 6-0 win to close out the program’s first series win over Southern Miss since 2010 and second-ever in school history.
Josh Och (2-0) managed the only win on the mound for Southern Miss, while Colby Allen (3-3) and Grayden Harris (3-2) suffered losses.
All three teams will make stops against nonconference opponents on Tuesday. Mississippi State heads to UAB, while Ole Miss makes the short trip to Memphis. Southern Miss heads to Tuscaloosa to play No. 8 Alabama. The Golden Eagles have won three out of four games against the Crimson Tide, dating back to 2021.
