Mississippi State Review/Preview: Trend Over The Rebels Continues, Siary Sees New Peak
- Doug Kyle
- May 12
- 5 min read
UPDATED 6:54 PM CDT MAY 12
By Doug Kyle
Going into this past weekend’s SEC home series with Ole Miss, Mississippi State had some motivation. Sure, the team has shifted already into playoff mode, as third baseman Ace Reese describes it, where every game has critical importance toward playing postseason baseball beyond the new format SEC Tournament.
Not to mention, Ole Miss came from behind and nipped State in the 10th at the Governor’s Cup non-conference contest on April 22 in Pearl’s Trustmark Park. And, last year in Oxford, the Bulldogs had every opportunity after Khal Stephen’s Friday night 8-0 shutout to win the series in Saturday’s game, only to let the Rebels stick around and win it in walkoff fashion.
So, there was some motivation to steer the trend back toward resuming MSU domination of the all-time series and continue the conference series mark of 7-1 since 2015. A series win would even level the yearly mark at 2-2, as was last year’s.
But, if that wasn’t challenge enough already, Mother Nature forced moving the series start up to 4 pm on Friday for a doubleheader. Technically, the second game scheduled for 2 pm Saturday was moved up 26 hours, with the ESPN broadcast of the first game on Friday night delayed only about 48 minutes from its scheduled 7:30 time to its logged 8:18 start.
With the change not announced until late that morning, the anticipated large crowd was gradual in arrival, growing as the day drew on. By the time the lights went off, 14468 came inside, good for 7th place on the all-time NCAA campus crowds list.
And, even with ace Pico Kohn on the mound, Mississippi State struggled to get off to a good start. Ole Miss jumped out to a 2-0 lead, State cut it to 2-1, and things seemed to be leveling out when the Bulldogs tied the game 2-2.
But, that’s when the teams went opposite directions. After tying the game, 10 straight Bulldogs were retired, and in that stretch, Ole Miss went long ball on Kohn with four home runs for the game, on the way to a 10-2 lead. State managed to get a couple runs late, but a 10-4 loss on the scoreboard greeted many as they arrived at the ballpark.
But, in a day of momentum changes, that’s when (pardon the pun) Ole Mo switched from Ole Miss to Dear Ole State. The name was Siary, Evan Siary, but it may have as well been See You Later Siary, as Evan proceeded to throw his best game ever as a Bulldog.
The junior from Columbus and Starkville Academy grad put on a clinic, walking none and striking out 15, the most since a hurler named Bednar in a town called Omaha, and reminiscent of the dominance Brooks Bryan laid on the Rebels the year before in Hoover. How dominant? No Rebel hitter ever took more than two balls. And, for his effort, Siary was today named SEC Pitcher of the Week.
The margin, though, stayed razor thin despite Siary’s brilliance, State nursing a 2-0 lead after bunching three of its seven hits in the second inning for a pair of runs. It actually stayed that way until after Siary had gutted out a career-high eight innings and got a huge third out on his 98th pitch that shortstop Sawyer Reeves ran down in short left field with Ole Miss leaving the tying runs on base.
Some relief came after that, with State getting two more in the bottom of the inning, Hunter Hines and Bryce Chance both singling in runs that provided a little breathing room when Ole Miss came to bat its final time.
Ben Davis came on in relief of Siary, and the Rebels finally got to see ball three and four, getting a walk and an infield single for two on with no outs. Two fly balls to the outfield broke up the shutout, but a full-count called strikeout on the eighth pitch ended the game as a series-evening 4-1 Bulldog win.
Siary was lauded for his brilliance far and wide, and about the time most fans started planning for a wet day off Saturday in Starkville came the announcement that the third game, originally anticipated for Sunday, was going to be attempted at 7 pm on Saturday night.
We say attempted because rain fell all day in Starkville, and while the percent probability of rain dropped to the 40s, it was still raining when the Dudy Noble Field gates opened at 5:30 pm. But, the tarp came off the field about 20 minutes after that, some minor work was done on the turf, and the teams readied to play ball.
First pitch was at 7:03, and a light blowing drizzle continued throughout the evening, easily visible in the lights but not preventative of the game being played to completion at 10:36.
State broke out to an early lead, getting a run in the bottom of the third inning, then added three more in the fourth and two more in the fifth. With a 6-1 lead, no one in Maroon and White probably realized that would be all for the night.
And, unfortunately, it wasn’t for Ole Miss.
Karson Ligon started and pitched well, going five innings and yielding only one run on three hits. Nate Williams and Luke Dotson followed, allowing two runs each to Ole Miss, but State finished the game with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless work from Ben Davis, who had worked briefly in the first game, and Ryan McPherson, who had been victimized in the Pearl game with the ninth-inning home run that tied the game and forced extra innings, which Ole Miss eventually won.
If the seventh and eighth innings weren’t anxiety enough for the State fans, the ninth brought even more drama as Ole Miss, who’d brought in their closer and had pitching set up for a come-from-behind win, got two on with no outs. McPherson may be a freshman eligibility wise, but his pitching didn’t show it in perhaps the most pressure-pivotal moment of his team’s season. He got a ground ball for a double play and two outs, but now, Ole Miss had the tying run at third base.
With chants of “Maroon…White” waving back and forth from the third and first base stands all evening, a ground ball to Sawyer Reeves led to a force play at second base that ended the game and sent the stadium into a frenzy.
It wasn’t just a series win, now eight of nine, over the rival, it was, as Reese’s walkup song goes, Ah Ha Ha Ha, Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Alive.
With the series win, the Bulldogs break the 30-win barrier and improve to 12-15 in the SEC, a long way from the 1-8 start but still a long way to go for hearing the call on Memorial Day. Tuesday night's game against North Alabama was announced late Monday afternoon as cancelled due to recent and expected heavy rains, and for you superstitious fans, the Bulldogs will go to Missouri on Thursday-Saturday not facing an 0-27 SEC Tiger team.
In fact, M-I-Z actually swept Texas A&M, something that brings a sigh of relief in not having to face history; but it also, as Interim Head Coach Justin Parker said post-game, helps focus the team’s attention on the mission, and opportunity, that awaits. The maladies in CoMo are well known by now, and unfortunately, they’ve sometimes been at the expense of the Bulldogs.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s on to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. After getting a renewed commitment from the SEC, the stadium has undergone renovation, which makes it even nicer than the fan-friendly and baseball-accommodating atmosphere that’s been there continually since 1990.
Final seeding and the bracket will be out next weekend, and we’ll have all the details for you, either here or on X @CollegeBaseCNT. With this the first year of single elimination throughout, it remains to be seen how that will affect attendance, but here is your link to check for more information:
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