STARKVILLE, Miss. – Southeastern Louisiana extended its winning streak to six games and guaranteed a series victory at Mississippi State, beating the Bulldogs 8-5 Saturday afternoon. The Lions will go for a sweep Sunday at Dudy Noble Field.

Starting pitcher Brandon Efferson (2-0) earned the win by scattering nine hits and three earned runs over six innings of work. He struck out nine and walked only two. Justin Schneider earned his first save, coming on to induce the final out.

Southeastern (6-0) started the scoring in the top of the first inning. After Cass Hargis and Justin Boudreaux both reached on errors, Josh Cryer brought home Hargis on a sacrifice fly.

After the Bulldogs (4-2) matched that run in the bottom half of the opening frame, the Lions got on the board again in the second, as Trey Martin singled to score Brock Hebert from second base and make the count 2-1 in favor of Southeastern. Mississippi State didn't allow the Lions to keep that lead for long, though, plating a pair in the bottom of the second. That gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 advantage.

Southeastern then exploded for three runs in the third inning. Cody Gougler tied the game as he brought Boudreaux home on a groundout to start things off. Chad Livingston followed that up two batters later with a double to left center, scoring Philip Freeman and Jeff Harkensee, putting the Lions in front 5-3.

The Lions would tack a run on in the fifth when Hebert singled in Freeman, and another in the sixth via a Gougler base knock that scored Boudreaux. The visitors added a final insurance run in the top of the ninth, as Hebert grounded out to bring Gougler home and extend the Southeastern advantage to 8-3.

Mississippi State threatened in the bottom of the ninth. After Josh Janway got Connor Powers to ground into a double play, the Lions still needed one more out to claim victory. Ryan Collins went on to single home Luke Adkins. Schneider then entered the game and uncorked a wild pitch on his first offering to Russ Sneed, allowing Cody Freeman to trot in from third, trimming the deficit to 8-5. Sneed would up flying out to center, though, ending the game.

Gougler, Livingston and Hebert all finished with two RBI a piece. The Lions were outhit, 11-10, but benefitted from five MSU errors.

The series finale begins at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Live video, audio and statistics will be available via the baseball page on LionSports.net.



Southeastern La..... 113 011 001 -  8 10  1   (6-0)
Mississippi State... 120 000 002 -  5 11  5    (4-2)
Efferson, Hymel (7), Janway (9), Schneider (9) and Cryer. Stratton, Girodo (3), Watson (9), Houston (9) and C. Freeman. W – Efferson (2-0). L – Stratton (1-1). SV - Schneider (1). E – Efferson (1); Vickerson 2 (3), Ogden 2 (2), Butler (2). DP - SLU 2; MSU 1. LOB - SLU 10; MSU 10. 2B – Harkensee (3), Livingston (1), Hebert (2); Adkins (1), C. Freeman (1), Ogden (3). HBP – Gougler. SH - Cryer (3); P. Freeman (1). SF - Cryer (2). SB - P. Freeman (2); Adkins (1), C. Freeman (1). T - 3:32. A – 5,927.