Hey, that's right...
No. 14 Mississippi State Eliminates Ole Miss From The SEC Tournament
64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday at 11:30 a.m. (CDT).
HOOVER, Ala. - Mississippi State freshman right-hander Jamie Gant pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to make two early runs stand as the fourth-seeded Bulldogs eliminated the No. 5 seed Ole Miss from the 2003 SEC Tournament with a 4-1 win Saturday afternoon at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
The Bulldogs will now advance to tonight's semi-final game against top-seeded LSU, scheduled for 8 p.m.
With the loss, Ole Miss is eliminated from the tournament and will now wait until Monday to see if the Rebels are selected for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 64-team field will be announced Monday at 11:30 a.m., on ESPN2.
Gant (5-1) came on in relief of starter Jeff Lacher in the fifth after Ole Miss cut the Mississippi State lead to 2-1 on a two-out RBI single by Seth Smith. He retired the first nine batters he faced and allowed two hits and one walk, while striking out three to earn the win.
Mississippi State scratched out a run in the second and one in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the second with no outs before Thomas Berkery grounded into a double play to score Robby Goodson for the game's first run.
Mississippi State had another chance for a big inning in the fourth, opening the frame with three straight hits. Brad Corley doubled and Jeff Butts singled to put runners on the corners. Berkery then followed with a single to score Corley and make it 2-0. Freshman right-hander Mark Holliman, though, would come back to strike out Matthew Maniscalco, Jon Mungle and Steve Gendron to end the inning.
The Bulldogs added two runs in the sixth off an error by first baseman Stephen Head to score Butts and Berkery to make it 4-1.
Holliman (4-7) was tagged with the loss. He was charged with four runs, one earned, on six hits and five walks, while striking out a season-high 10 in 5 1/3 innings.
Brian Pettway, Jonathan Swearingen and Matt Tolbert had two hits each to lead Ole Miss at the plate. Swearingen finished the tournament hitting .412, going 7-for-17.
Berkery, Butts and Corley all had two hits a piece for Mississippi State.
The Rebels out-hit the Bulldogs 9-8 on the afternoon.
No. 14 Mississippi State 4, Ole Miss 1 (May 24, 2003 at Hoover, Ala.)
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Ole Miss 000 010 000 - 1 9 2 (34-25)
Mississippi State 010 102 00x - 4 7 0 (40-17-1)
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Pitchers: Ole Miss - M. Holliman; N. Bradshaw(6). Mississippi State - Lacher; Gant(5).
Win-Gant(5-1) Loss-M. Holliman(4-7) T-2:47 A-7568
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