Miss. State's Two-Run 11th Inning Avoids Sweep
4/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Easley went 3-for-6 with two RBI in the win over Alabama. In addition to his game-winning double in the 11th, he produced the tying run in the seventh inning with a two-out single.
MSU (22-3, 5-4 SEC) scored twice in the 11th inning off losing pitcher David Robertson. After retiring the first two batters on two pitches in the 11th, Robertson yielded a ground ball single to second baseman Jeffrey Rea before Easley snapped a 2-2 tie with a double to left center field. After shortstop Thomas Berkery was intentionally walked, Moreland ripped a double to right field to score Easley with the insurance run.
Robertson (2-2) allowed two runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings, with two walks and no strikeouts. He was pitching for the second straight day after nailing down the save on Saturday by throwing 66 pitches.
Left-hander Justin Piggott (2-0) threw four scoreless innings for the Bulldogs to earn his second win. He held the Crimson Tide to three hits and struck out four. Piggot extended the streak of 7 1/3 scoreless innings by the MSU bullpen in the weekend series.
"It was a hard-fought game by both teams," Alabama coach Jim Wells said. "We had our shots to win and they had their shots to win. Every game in the SEC is like this. The team that wins gets the one key and today, they got the hit."
Alabama (22-9, 7-2 SEC) was going for the sweep of top-ranked Miss. State on Sunday. The Crimson Tide had the potential winning run on base in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings, but could not produce the key hit.
"Miss. State is a quality team," Wells added. "To win two out of three at the point in the season is good. You want to win all three, but this was a good weekend."
Alabama took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Ryan Rhoden's bases loaded single that just stayed fair down the right field line. Valverde led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on base on Avila's single to right. Pennington was then hit by a Lalor pitch while attempting a sacrifice bunt attempt to load the bases. Rhoden then laced the ball just inside the bag at first to score Valverde and Avila with the two-run lead.
After both teams left the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Mississippi State took advantage of a couple of Alabama miscues in the seventh to tie the game at 2-2. Brian LaNinfa led off with a bloop single to left and moved to second on Wyn Diggs' ground out to first base. Joseph Hunter followed with a single to send LaNinfa to third base with one out.
The Crimson Tide appeared to be out of the inning when Jeffrey Rea hit a sharp comebacker to Tommy Hunter for what looked like an inning-ending double play, but Paiml's throw pulled Spencer Pennington of the bag at first to allow LaNinfa to scored the State's run of the game. After Rea stole second base, Ed Easley singled to center to score Rea from second with the tying run.
Hunter left the game after Thomas Berkery reached on an error by Evan Bush, but the Tide got out of the jam when Jordan Davis got Mitch Moreland to ground out to end the inning.
Alabama stranded runners in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings. The best chance to win the game came in the ninth when the Tide had two runners on base and one out, but Bush struck out and Kody Valverde flied out to end the threat.
MSU left 13 men on base, while UA stranded 11 base runners.
Pennington went 3-for-3 with two doubles for Alabama. Junior center fielder Emeel Salem and Rhoden had two hits each for the Tide. Salem extended his hitting streak to 14 games on Sunday.
Alabama closes this eight-game home stand with a 6:30 p.m. game against UAB on Wednesday, April 5 at the Joe. The Crimson Tide is on the road the next two weekends in SEC play against South Carolina
