On the heels of an eventful Monday in Starkville, Mississippi, with the firing of Coach Chris Lemonis as Head Coach of the Mississippi State Baseball program, the Bulldogs would quickly shift the focus to welcoming the Memphis Tigers to Dudy Noble for the second matchup of the midweek series.

Mississippi State won the first meeting between the two 5-3 on April 1st at FedEx Park in Memphis, Tennessee.

With the pitching coach, Justin Parker, serving as the interim Head Coach of the Mississippi State Baseball program until at least the end of the season, Tuesday’s game brought the Bulldogs a sense of normalcy without the chatter of a coaching change looming over the dugout.

Coach Parker kept the same midweek starter, Noah Sullivan. Sullivan delivered a solid night, pitching three complete innings, giving up a hit and no runs before Jacob Pruitt came into pitch during the top half of the fourth inning.

Mississippi State jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over the Memphis Tigers before adding the fourth run in the bottom of the second to make it 4-0 Bulldogs through two complete innings. A three-run home run from Reed Stallman would extend the Bulldogs lead to 7-0 over Memphis in the bottom half of the third inning. Mississippi State would extend the lead to 17-0 after a ten-run bottom of the 4th inning. During that 10-run 4th inning, Ross Highfill was the lone Bulldog who hit a home run with a three-run shot. Memphis would muster four runs together, but the floodgates were opened by the 17 runs the Bulldogs scored.

Maybe they needed a change in leadership because Tuesday night against Memphis was a different Mississippi State team than we’ve seen all season. From solid pitching to timely hitting, Tuesday night was the perfect get-right game for the Bulldogs as they prepare for the final three weeks of conference play.

Mississippi State will welcome the Kentucky Wildcats to Dudy Noble for a three-game set starting Friday night.