Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
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No. 14 Mississippi State
Bulldogs Tame Spirited Herd Effort, 7-4
2/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Marshall-Mississippi State Box Score | Marshall-Alabama A&M Box Score
Mississippi State Game Final Stats | Alabama A&M Final Stats
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Marshall baseball put up a fight against No. 14 Mississippi State (7-0) Saturday night/Sunday afternoon before falling to the Bulldogs 7-4. It was the fifth come-from-behind win for MSU.
The Herd faced Alabama A&M earlier Sunday, falling 8-1 and dropping to 2-5 on the season.
Senior TJ Diffenderfer (Mount Juliet, Tenn.) smacked his second homer of the season in the Alabama A&M game, and junior DJ Gee (Seattle) hit his first Herd homerun in the Mississippi State contest.
Gee went 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI and junior Robert Fajardo (Miami) shelled out a 3-for-4, two RBI performance against MSU. Sophomore Corey Bird (Pinch, W.Va.) also collected two hits.
The Herd was limited to three hits against Alabama A&M--Diffenderfer's HR, and singles from senior Josh King (Troup, Ga.) and freshman Chad Roberts (Wilmington, Ohio).
GAME 3- No. 14 Mississippi State 7, Marshall 4
For the second time in as many games, the Herd broke through first, scoring in the bottom of the second. Gee belted his first homerun of the season (and first Herd homer) over the left field fence.
The Bulldogs tied it up in the bottom of the fourth, when a leadoff walk came around to score off a double down the right field line.
After a leadoff single, MSU's Brent Rooker connected with a pitch to deep left, smacking a two-run homerun and putting the Bulldogs on top 3-1.
The game was halted before another pitch could be thrown, and resumed Sunday.
The Bulldogs plated two more runs in the bottom of the 5th, capitalizing on three walks and a single.
Marshall began to chip away at the MSU lead, scoring two runs in the sixth on a single up the middle from Fajardo.
The outfielder again became clutch, sacrificing himself on the base path in the eighth. Fajardo took off to steal second, and got caught in a rundown. While he was playing with the MSU infielder's minds, Gee, who was on third, took off for home, plating his second run of the day.
A two-run eighth inning for Mississippi State added insurance and sealed the win.
GAME 4- Alabama A&M 8, Marshall 1
Alabama A&M scored one run in both the second and sixth innings to take a 2-0 lead over the Herd before a long ball over left field, courtesy of Diffenderfer, cut the deficit to one.
The Bulldogs then took a six-run seventh inning to go up 8-1 over Marshall. Starter Callaway Kirkpatrick (Aledo, Texas) pitched very efficiently for 5.2 innings, scattering four hits and allowing two runs (one earned) while fanning two.
UP NEXT
Marshall heads to Winston-Salem, N.C., to face Towson and Wake Forest in a four-game weekend beginning Feb. 27.
