CLEVELAND, Miss.-- Mississippi College (32-15) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the 11th to edge No. 3/10 Delta State University (40-9) 9-8 in game 12 of the 2018 Gulf South Conference Baseball Championship on Tuesday at Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field.
Zack Shannon's third-inning home run tied the senior with Rafael Palmeiro (1984) and Bruce Castoria (1981) at the top of the state of Mississippi's single-season home run list with 29.
Mississippi College advances to play Lee University in the championship game on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Score: Mississippi College 9 | #3/10 Delta State 8 (11)
Start: 7:30 p.m.|
TOG: 3:32
Date/Time: Tues., May 8, 2018
Location: Cleveland, Miss. | Harvey Stadium-Ferriss Field
Records: Statesmen 40-9 | Choctaws 32-15
Series: The Statesmen lead the series 121-43-2 and are 8-5 under
Mike Kinnison
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Mississippi College jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a two-run triple by Blaine Crim.
- The Green-and-White put up six runs in the top of the third to build an 6-2 lead. Brian Lane doubled off the left field wall to score Jason Popovich and Emil Ellis. Zack Shannon followed with a two-run home run to right center that scored Lane and Clay Casey clubbed a solo home run to centerfield.
- Crim cut the DSU lead to 6-4 with a two-run home run in the bottom of the third.
- The Choctaws scored three runs in their half of the fifth to take a 7-6 lead. Crim doubled home a run and two runs scored on a pair of wild pitches.
- Casey doubled and was bunted over to third by Nick Morgan before scoring scored on a Juwan Burney sac-fly to tie the game, 7-7.
- Dylan Duplechain gave the Choctaws an 8-7 lead with solo home run down the left field line in the eighth.
- The Statesmen tied the game 8-8 on the ninth. Burney singled and moved to second base on a bunt by Russell before scoring on a Nussbaum single up the middle.
- Mississippi College pushed the winning run across in the 11th. Kyle Smith singled and was bunted to second by Grant Barber. Crim was intentionally walked and Billy Cameron reached on an error that allowed Smith to score the game-winning run.
ON THE MOUND
- Jason Lott (3-2) gave up an unearned run on one hit with a walk to take the loss for the Statesmen.
- Ryan Lane (4-2) scattered three hits over 2.2 innings with two strikeouts to earn the win for MC.
NOTABLES
- Nussbaum finished 3-for-5 with an RBI to lead the Statesmen at the plate.
- Lane was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Casey went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Burney finished 2-for-3.
- Casey's solo home run in the third moved him past AJ Downs (2000) into sixth on the school's single-season home runs list with 17, matching his 17 long balls in 2017. The home run also moved him into a tie for 11th on Mississippi's single-season home runs list.
- Casey and Shannon hit back to back home runs for the third time this season.
- Shannon's third inning home run was his 29th of the season, tying him with Rafael Palmeiro (1984) and Bruce Castoria (1981) for first on the state of Mississippi's single-season home run list.
- The loss snapped the Statesmen 10-game GSC tournament win streak while missing the GSC title game for the first time since 2011.
- The Statesmen fell to 4-3 in extra-inning games this season.
UP NEXT
The NCAA Division II Baseball tournament field will be announced on the NCAA selection show on Sunday at 9 p.m. and will be aired on NCAA.com.
