Box Score STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Mississippi State (5-4) rebounded from Tuesday's loss to UALR with a 6-3 win over the Trojans (2-8) at Dudy Noble Field on Wednesday. The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, and held the Trojans scoreless over the final three innings to pick up the win.
The two teams racked up 10 hits a piece on the day, with junior Kody Kroll pacing the Trojans with a 3-for-3 day at the plate. Junior Clay Rominger went 2-for-4 with a RBI, while Nick DeSanctis and Zach Rowles each stole two bases.
Mississippi State's Jesse Carver (1-0) got the win for the Bulldogs by holding UALR to three hits and a run over the first 3.0 innings. John Lalor went the final 1.2 innings, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, to pick up his first save of the season.
The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the second inning, scoring all three runs with two outs on the board. Mark Goforth did the majority of the damage with a two-run double down the right field line.
Junior Matt Apfel put the Trojans on the board in the top of the third with a sacrifice fly to right, but MSU extended its lead to 5-1 by plating two runs in the bottom of the fifth. The Trojans answered by manufacturing a pair of runs in the sixth, off a run-scoring single from Rominger and a RBI groundout by DeSanctis, to make it a 5-3 contest.
Trailing 5-3, the Trojans had a prime opportunity to tie the game in the eighth after loading the bases with one out on the board. Mississippi State's Jared Wesson came on to pitch at the start of the inning and loaded the bases by hitting sophomore Brad Swiderski and then issuing a pair of free passes.
Lalor came on for Wesson with the bags full and one out, and worked his way out of the jam unscathed by striking out the first batter he faced and ending the inning with a groundout to third ? leaving three runners on base.
Mississippi State added an insurance run in the bottom half, and Lalor closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.
Rominger (0-1) got the starting nod for UALR and took the loss after allowing four hits and three runs over 2.0 innings. Senior Nathan Parker followed by holding the Bulldogs hitless over 2.0 scoreless innings.
UALR returns to action this weekend when it welcomes Florida Atlantic to Gary Hogan Field for a three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
