MSU climbs back to beat USM, advances to face LSU in Super Regionals
Published 1:49 am Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Brent Rooker and Cody Brown each had three RBIs, and Mississippi State beat host Southern Miss 8-6 early Tuesday in Game 7 of the Hattiesburg Regional to advance to the super regional.
Mississippi State (40-25) won four games in two days — including two against Southern Miss — to advance to play No. 4 national seed LSU.
Rooker hit his 23rd home run of the season in the first inning, but Southern Miss answered with four runs in the bottom half to chase Bulldogs starter Cole Gordon. In the fifth, Brown hit a three-run homer with two outs to pull to 5-4.
Mississippi State loaded the bases in the seventh without a hit, but only scored one run to get within 6-5. They took a 7-6 lead with two outs in the eighth on Rooker’s high pop-up that found space in shallow right field, and Elijah MacNamee added an insurance run in the ninth with his first hit of the game.
Spencer Price (4-1) got the win for Mississippi State, and Riley Self picked up his eighth save.
Nick Sandlin (10-2) took the loss for Southern Miss (50-16), which was seeking its second super regional appearance.