Both Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State defeated nationally ranked teams on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs beat No. 3 Mississippi State while the Aggies traveled to Lubbock, Texas and took down No. 26 Texas Tech.
Louisiana Tech 13, Mississippi State 12
RUSTON ?“ Louisiana Tech scored seven runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to down No. 3 ranked Mississippi State 13-12 before 1,624 fans at J.C. Love Field Tuesday night.
Trailing 12-6 entering the bottom half of the ninth, Tech saw pinch hitters Nick Grunenwald and Matt Lacy retired by Mississippi State relief pitcher Andy Wilson to start the frame.
However, Tech then saw nine straight batters reach base ?“ eight hits and one walk ?“ as the Bulldogs finally won the game on an RBI single by Lacy to right field, capping one of the largest come backs in Bulldog baseball history.
"It was a good win," said Tech head coach Wade Simoneaux. "It was a great win for these guys. They deserve it. They never gave up and they continued to hit the ball.
"It means a lot to us as a program. Our guys worked really hard for the win."
After Tech cut the State lead to 12-9, Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk brought in reliever Mike Valentine to try to get the final out. However, Valentine allowed four hits and one walk to pick up the loss.
"All the guys fought hard all year and we deserve this," Lacy said. "It?™s huge for us momentum-wise."
Mississippi State (22-4) controlled the game from the first inning as the Bulldogs scored one time in the first, twice in the second and three more times in the third to grab a 6-4 lead.
Two-run home runs by Brian Rike and Jericho Jones kept Tech within striking distance early. Mississippi State scored twice in the top of the fifth and three more times in the top of the seventh to up its advantage to 11-4.
Tech (16-12), winners of 13 of its last 18, scratched for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 11-6. Ryan Hamilton?™s RBI double and Devin Scott?™s run scoring ground out plated the two runs.
Mississippi State added one run in the top of the ninth inning, setting the scene for the miraculous comeback.
Hamilton led Tech?™s 14-hit attack with three hits while Jones, Amos Ramon and Joey McCarthey each added two hits.
Brandon Hudson (1-0) picked up the win for Tech in his first mound appearance of the year, allowing one run on two hits over the final 1.2 innings of work.
The win was Tech?™s third straight against ranked opponents as the Bulldogs defeated Southern Miss and Baylor.
Tech returns to action Wednesday afternoon when the Bulldogs host UL-Lafayette at 3 p.m. at J.C. Love Field.
New Mexico State 9, Texas Tech 4
Lubbock, Texas ?“ The Aggie offense got off to an early start with three runs in the first inning and never let up on Tuesday as the New Mexico State baseball team dropped the Texas Tech Red Raiders 9-4 at Dan Law Field. The win was the second straight for the Aggies as they even the season series with Tech at 1-1 and improve to 12-22 overall, dropping the Red Raiders to 22-11 on the year.
The NMSU lead was never in jeopardy as the Aggies scored their nine runs on 12 hits and the pitching staff was solid as the back-to-back wins are the first for NMSU since beating Northern Iowa twice in a row one month ago. The Aggies were also flawless defensively as they recorded their fifth straight game without a single error while Tech committed three on the night.
Jeremy Andarakes (Edmond, Okla.) got his first start of the season for NMSU and pitched a solid three innings while Dillon Smith (El Paso, Texas/Eastwood HS) earned the win evening his record at 3-3. Smith pitched the final six innings of the game and was outstanding as he surrendered only two earned runs on four hits.
Brandon Lance (Edmond, Okla.) was a powerful force at the plate for the Aggies as he finished the night 3-for-5 with a three-run home run, his fifth of the year. Joey Vincent (Chandler, Ariz.) was also strong on offense as he went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and Joseph Godinez (Redlands, Calif.) finished the night 2-for-5 with an RBI and one run scored.
Josh Tomlin (1-2) took the loss for the Red Raiders as he surrendered two earned runs on three hits in three complete innings.
As the Aggies?™ leadoff man, Vince Rodden (Overland Park, Kansas) drew a four pitch walk to start the game and then took second as Jason Long (Midwest City, Okla.) reached on a Red Raider error and the Aggies?™ had two men on. Abe Aguirre (El Paso, Texas/Oklahoma State/Riverside HS) advanced the runners on a sac bunt and with two outs, Lance crushed a long home run to left field to clear the bases and NMSU took a 3-0 lead after one inning.
Tech put their first batter of the game on board as Joey Callender hit a liner back to the mound that bounced off Andarakes and he couldn?™t turn the play in time to gun down the runner as the Red Raiders had a man on with no outs. The Aggies managed to retire the next two batters, but a single to left scored the runner and the NMSU lead was cut to two at 3-1 heading into the second.
In the top of the second, Vincent led off with a double down the left line and moved to third on a groundout from Jeremy Uhl (Farmington, N.M.) before Rodden walked for the second time with two outs to put runners on the corners. Rodden then stole his 27th base of the season and Long singled to left to plate two runs and extend the Aggie lead to 5-1 in the second.
Andarakes walked the first two batters in the Tech half of the second and one man advanced on a sac fly to right as the Red Raiders had runners on the corners with one out. Callender?™s second hit of the game scored one run before Andarakes settled down and retired the next two batters to end the inning with NMSU leading by three at 5-2.
The third inning was the first scoreless inning for both teams and Vincent got his second hit of the game in the top of the fourth as he led off with a single to left field and advanced on a throwing error from the new Tech pitcher who tried to pick him off at first. Vincent was knocked home on a double down the right line by Uhl that barely bounced inside the line and the Aggies extended their lead to four at 6-2 on five hits in the game.
NMSU turned to their bullpen to start the fourth inning and reliever Smith retired Tech in four batters to keep the four-run Aggie lead safe heading into the fifth.
The Aggies had a pair of two-out singles in the top of the fifth, but couldn?™t manage to bring the runs home and Smith sat the Red Raider hitters down in six pitches in the bottom half of the inning.
Godinez got things going for NMSU in the top of the sixth as he led off with a single to right field and moved to second on a groundout from Rodden. Aguirre then stepped to the plate and singled left and advanced to second on the throw scoring Godinez and Aguirre crossed the plate when Adam Harvey (Celina, Texas) reached on Tech?™s third error of the game as the Aggies led 8-2 after five and a half.
The Red Raiders put their first two batters on in the bottom of the sixth on a hit batsmen and a walk and then loaded the bases on another walk two outs later. A single that just snuck by Uhl as he dove for the ball scored two runs and the NMSU lead was trimmed to four at 8-4 after six complete innings.
The Aggies plated another run in the seventh when Uhl was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a passed ball before scoring on a single to the gap in left center by Godinez and the score was now 9-4 in the middle of the seventh.
Tech was blanked again in the seventh and eighth as Smith returned to the mound in the ninth to finish the game and recorded the final three outs in four batters to earn his third win of the season.
"When you go on the road and put up that many runs and play well, you?™re going to win," Aggie head coach Rocky Ward said. "That?™s exactly what we did and we can take a lot of good things from this game."
The Aggies will return to their home diamond this weekend as they host a three-game conference series with Sacramento State. First pitch on Friday and Saturday is slated for 6:05 p.m. while Sunday?™s game will start at 11:05 a.m