From staff reports

In its first four games, Mississippi State found a way to come up with late rallies and timely hits. It won all four.

In its next three, it didn’t, and was swept at home.

Southeastern Louisiana’s Trey Martin stole home in the top of the eighth inning, capping a two-run rally that lifted the Lions over Mississippi State 6-5 Sunday in Starkville.

The win finished off a sweep of the weekend series for Southeastern Louisiana (7-0).

“We are better than we were this weekend and we will continue to get better,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “Since this had to happen, I liked the way that it happened. It stings and I want our guys to fell that sting. Not everything will always go our way. We know how it feels when we don’t do our job.”

Mississippi State took a 5-3 lead after four innings, but SLU scored one in the sixth and two in the eighth to take the lead. An RBI single by Jeff Harkensee tied it in the eighth. Martin, who had been hit by a pitch, then stole home with two outs to make it 6-5.

Mississippi State (4-3) had runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn’t score. Connor Powers struck out and Ryan Duffy grounded out to end the threat.

Powers was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs for MSU, and Russ Sneed was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Chad Gough-Fortenberry and Harkensee each drove in two runs for SLU.

 

Ole Miss 9, Oakland 3

David Phillips hit his fourth home run of the season, Tanner Mathis went 3-for-4 and scored two runs, and Ole Miss swept Oakland.

After three scoreless innings, the Rebels (6-1) broke it open in the middle innings. They scored two in the fourth on Phillips’ homer, four in the fifth, and three in the sixth to take a 9-0 lead.

Zach Miller drove in three runs for Ole Miss, the last two with a double in the sixth.

Trent Rothlin (2-0) started and threw five scoreless innings for the Rebels. He allowed three hits and four walks, struck out one and earned the victory.

 

LeMoyne 12, USM 11

Southern Miss fell behind big early, then rallied before ultimately falling short in a loss to LeMoyne.

LeMoyne led 9-4 after three innings and 12-6 after six. Southern Miss (4-3) scored five in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull within a run. Taylor Walker drove in three runs with a single during the rally. Justin Diliberto scored from first on the hit, which came on a 3-2, two-out pitch.

Adam Doleac just missed a potential tying home run foul in the eighth, and the Golden Eagles left two runners on base in the ninth.

“LeMoyne is a good club but we made it easy for them today with walks and errors,” USM coach Scott Berry said. “I was proud of the comeback at the time but it still goes as a loss. What is more important to me is the way we played before we started making a comeback.”

LSU 9-7, William & Mary 6-4

LSU (7-0) finished a weekend sweep of William & Mary (3-3) by taking both games of a doubleheader Sunday, 9-6 and 7-4.

LSU totaled 23 hits in the two games. Left fielder Trey Watkins was 5-for-8 with two triples, two RBIs and five runs scored.

Leon Landry went 3-for-7 with three RBIs and five stolen bases. Landry tied an LSU single-game record with four stolen bases in game two.