Mississippi State Eliminates FAU, 8-4
June 5, 2005
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – Junior left fielder Jeff Butts went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and three runs batted in to lead Mississippi State to an 8-4 win over Florida Atlantic Saturday afternoon in Game 5 of the Coral Gables Baseball Regional at Mark Light Field.
With the win, Mississippi State (42-21) advances to Sunday’s 7 p.m. contest against the University of Miami. Florida Atlantic ends its season with a record of 37-24.
Florida Atlantic jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Center fielder Mike McBryde opened the inning with an infield single. McBryde then stole second base and advanced to third on an error by Mississippi State short stop Michael Rutledge. Tim Mascia then grounded to short scoring McBryde.
Mississippi State evened the score in the top of the second when centerfielder Joseph Hunter singled to left field scoring first baseman Brad Jones from third.
The Blue Wave regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when shortstop Daniel Cook singled to right scoring Tyler Stevens from second base.
The Bulldogs took the lead in the fifth inning when Butts put one over the leftfield fence for a two-run homer, his third round tripper of the season.
The lead was short lived as FAU opened the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back doubles from Tyler Stevens and Justin Martin to tie the score at 3-3. Cook then singled to left moving Martin to third and knocking MSU starter Jon Crosby out of the game. FAU took the lead one batter later as second baseman Derek Hutton beat out an infield single against reliever Josh Johnson scoring Martin.
Mississippi State broke the game open in the top of the sixth scoring four runs on four hits. The Bulldogs had their first three batters of the inning reach base capped by an RBI single from Brad Corley. Brian LaNinfa grounded to second scoring Jones and knocking FAU starter Mike Crotta out of the game.
MSU then got an RBI single from Hunter and an RBI double from Butts versus reliever Allen Knight to move in front by three runs and added an insurance run in the top of the ninth to close the game out 8-4.
