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EspañolHATTIESBURG - Maddox Miller was on the mound with Mississippi State baseball up by one run at Southern Miss in the seventh inning.
The Golden Eagles had runners on second and third base with one out. It appeared Miller, the freshman from Oak Grove in Hattiesburg, had struck out Kyle Morrison, But the ball skidded by the catcher Andrew Raymond for a wild pitch and one Southern Miss run.
Then on the next at-bat, the same exact play happened. Miller struck Tucker Stockman out swinging, but a wild pitch reached the backstop for another Southern Miss run.
Those wound up being the tying and go-ahead runs for No. 11 Southern Miss' thrilling 7-6 win over the No. 4 Bulldogs (11-2) at Pete Taylor Park on March 3.
The Golden Eagles (11-1) won their 11th straight game. They entered the day No. 1 in the very early season RPI and No. 1 in strength of schedule. It was also Southern Miss' fifth consecutive win against MSU at Pete Taylor Park, which drew a season-best crowd of 5,716.
“I think good teams find different ways to win and I think they did that tonight against a really good opponent," Southern Miss coach Christian Ostrander said.
The Golden Eagles scored the first five runs, fell behind 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning and then scored those two runs off wild pitches. They also scored one of their runs in the second inning when MSU shortstop Ryder Woodson dropped a pop fly that would've been the final out.
"We have a lot of old guys and a lot of maturity," said shortstop Seth Smith, who hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. "It shows day in and day out."
Southern Miss used 9 pitchers against Mississippi State
The Golden Eagles have another midweek game at Pete Taylor Park against Nicholls on March 4 (6 p.m., ESPN+) before a weekend series against North Alabama.
But they didn't save any bullpen pitchers. They used nine different pitchers, frequently bringing in new ones at the start of each inning.
"We weren't looking at tomorrow by any means," Ostrander said. "We were going to go win this game, but we felt like that was our best strategy for tonight. Letting these guys taste it and get out there and go and not asking too much."
Southern Miss' first four pitchers were all freshmen: Dylan Causey, Kevin Farr, Bruce Littleton and Sam Mitchell.
Southern Miss' relief pitchers had a 2.21 ERA and 8-0 record entering the game.
Camden Clark, a signee from Pearl River Community College, pitched a scoreless ninth inning against the heart of Mississippi State's lineup that included preseason All-American Ace Reese. Clark, who pitched two innings at Louisiana Tech two days earlier, hasn't allowed an earned run in 7⅓ innings this season.
"Lights flashing, your song is playing, you got everybody up there standing up cheering behind you, you feel like you can beat anybody at the time," Clark said.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss baseball beats Mississippi State on 2 wild pitches