Bulldogs complete road sweep
By By Carver Rayburn / staff writer
Marc 31, 2003
OXFORD The only thing that went right for Ole Miss this weekend was the offensive production of Eli Manning and company in the "Grove Bowl".
Mississippi State (22-3-1, 8-1) completed a three-game sweep of Ole Miss (17-10, 5-4) on Sunday, 8-4 in front of 3,585 at Swayze Field.
The Bulldogs tallied eight runs off 16 hits to come from behind to hand the Rebels their third straight SEC loss. With the win, State takes sole possession of first place in the SEC western division.
Bulldogs' skipper Ron Polk was pleased with the way things have been going for MSU. The Bulldogs have swept back-to-back weekend road series in SEC play.
Ole Miss took the lead early in the second inning when junior left fielder Charlie Babineaux smacked a two-run 347-foot shot over the left field wall to give Ole Miss a 2-0 lead. The home run by Babineaux broke a 21-inning scoreless streak by the Rebels that dated back to last Wednesday in the seventh inning against Southern Miss.
Mississippi State came back in the top of the fifth inning and tied the game at 2-2 with back-to-back RBI singles by junior first baseman Matthew Brinson and freshman right fielder Brad Corley. The base runners preceding the RBI singles were provided courtesy of two singles by senior shortstop Matthew Maniscalco and freshman center fielder Joseph Hunter.
Ole Miss would go back ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth and saw two pitching changes made by Polk in the inning.
Senior right-hander Jacob Blakeney came in to relieve starter Todd Nicholas. Nicholas went 5.1 innings giving up six hits and three runs and striking out two.
Blakeney got Ole Miss' right fielder Brian Pettway to fly out and looked to have things under control with two down in the inning. Babineaux stepped up once again for Ole Miss and belted a RBI double to right.
Senior catcher Charlie Wait then brought Babineaux home with a RBI single to center. Polk then decided to pull Blakeney and put in senior southpaw Brian Owens to close out the inning.
MSU would not wait long to do the damage needed for the win. The Bulldogs put together a five run three hit seventh inning to take a 7-4 lead that would eventually be enough for the win.
Ole Miss brought in reliever Jeremy Zick who walked four batters and gave up three hits. The biggest coming on a 2 RBI double by first baseman Matthew Brinson. One run was walked in by Zick and the other two came from singles by Thomas Berkey and Brent Lewis.
MSU would add one more run in the eighth on a RBI single by Thomas Berkey. Berkey finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Owens picked up the win for MSU and Zick took the loss for Ole Miss.
