Mississippi St. tops Southeast Missouri State baseball team with run in ninth

The Southeast Missouri State baseball team took No. 16 Mississippi State down to the wire in a nonconference matchup Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs (18-9) ultimately won on a one-out, walk-off single by Demarcus Henderson in the bottom of the ninth to top the Redhawks 3-2 at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Miss.

Bulldogs' catcher Zack Randolph opened the ninth with a single and was sacrificed to second.

Henderson followed with his single to center, and Randolph scored when the ball was misplayed by center fielder Cole Bieser for an error.

Reliever Greg Mosel (1-2) took the loss for Southeast, which fell to 14-10.

Mosel kept the Redhawks' chance of winning alive when he pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth.

Southeast reliever Christian Hull had walked the first two batters he faced in the inning, then hit Bulldogs second baseman Brett Pirtle to load the bases.

Mosel got shortstop Seth Heck to fly out to shallow center field and struck out Derrick Armstrong. Mosel then threw a pitch past catcher Scott Mitchell, who retrieved the ball and threw to Mosel covering the plate to catch pinch runner Jacob Robson trying to score from third.

Mississippi State took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Pirtle doubled down the left-field line to lead off the inning, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI groundout.

The Redhawks answered in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Andy Lack was walked to start the inning and advanced to second when left fielder Clayton Evans grounded out to the pitcher.

Lack went to third on a throwing error by the pitcher before second baseman Jason Blum was walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Mitchell struck out, but Blum stole second before first baseman Matt Tellor drew a walk to load the bases.

Designated hitter Derek Gibson singled down the left-field line to score Lack and Blum and give Southeast a 2-1 lead.

The Bulldogs evened the score in the seventh on a sacrifice fly before the game-winning single in the ninth.

Southeast starting pitcher Alex Winkelman had a strong outing for the Redhawks. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out three.

Mississippi State had eight hits to Southeast's five. Jonathan Holder (2-1) picked up the win for the Bulldogs.

The Redhawks drew six walks and struck out 10 times.

Southeast returns to Ohio Valley Conference action for a three-game series against UT Martin this weekend. The Redhawks open the series at 6 p.m. Friday in Martin, Tenn.