CLEVELAND, Miss. — The Delta State baseball team split its Saturday doubleheader against Mississippi College at Ferriss Field, taking game one 8-2 before falling 10-7 in game two as the two teams head to the rubber match Sunday with both teams holding a 20-12 Gulf South Conference records.
The Statesmen moved to 27-18 overall following the split.
Game One – Delta State 8, Mississippi College 2
Delta State broke open a scoreless game with a seven-run fourth inning and rode a dominant outing from
Adrian Byrd to an 8-2 win in the opener.
Byrd was outstanding on the mound, tossing 6.2 shutout innings while allowing just one hit and striking out nine to improve to 7-1 on the season. He worked around four walks and kept Mississippi College off balance all afternoon.
The Statesmen loaded the bases in the fourth before
Austin Batts drew an RBI walk to bring home the first run of the game.
Cooper Walls followed with another bases-loaded walk, and
Henley Parker delivered the big blow with a grand slam to right field, giving Delta State a 6-0 lead. Later in the inning,
Walker Maranto added a sacrifice fly to cap the seven-run frame.
Parker finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a walk, while Batts added a 1-for-3 performance with three walks and two RBIs.
Levi Lang,
Cade Greer and
Jacob Palazzo each scored, and the Statesmen totaled 11 hits in the win.
Mississippi College pushed across two runs in the eighth, but Delta State answered in the bottom half when Batts singled home Palazzo for the final 8-2 margin.
Game Two – Mississippi College 10, Delta State 7
The Choctaws answered in game two, using a four-run sixth inning to pull away for a 10-7 victory and salvage the split.
Mississippi College jumped out early with three runs in the first, highlighted by a two-run homer from Alex Johnson. Jake LaRocca added an RBI double in the third to make it 4-0 before Delta State battled back.
The Statesmen responded with two runs in the third after a throwing error allowed
Henley Parker and
Levi Lang to score, then tied the game in the fourth on Parker's two-run double that plated
Landon Holliman and
Cooper Walls.
After Mississippi College reclaimed the lead in the fifth, Delta State answered again when
Jacob Palazzo reached on an error and drove in
Cade Greer and
Austin Batts to even the score at 6-6.
The decisive blow came in the sixth inning when Jake LaRocca launched a three-run homer as part of a four-run frame for the Choctaws, stretching the lead to 10-6.
Delta State got one back on
Walker Maranto's RBI double in the bottom of the sixth but could not complete the comeback.
Landon Holliman led the offense with three hits, while Parker went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Levi Lang and Maranto each had two hits, and Palazzo drove in two runs. LaRocca finished with four RBIs for Mississippi College.
The Statesmen and Choctaws return to the diamond for the rubber match tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.(CT) from Harvey Stadium at Ferriss Field.
