MSU Convincingly Routs Princeton in Game One

The bats were alive as the sun went down in Starkville on Friday night, as the Diamond Dawgs got back above .500 in emphatic fashion.

MSU defeated the Princeton Tigers 11-2 in the first contest of the planned three-game weekend series on Friday night. 

Preston Johnson drew the Friday night start in the absence of ace RHP Landon Sims, and he delivered. Despite letting up a solo home run in the top of the first, the veteran gunslinger bounced back with 10 K's, a pair of walks, and only two runs allowed over 6.0 innings. 

Kellum Clark's bat has finally awakened after his sluggish start on the season, and boy was it ever-present on Friday. He started the scoring off in the bottom side of the first with a three-RBI home run to the right-center. After that, the Bulldogs kept the heat on. MSU ended the night with 13 total hits as a team, setting the bar high for the rest of the series ahead. 

Clark harped on his early-season woes after play had concluded and how frustrated he was early on in the season. 

"I mean, it's frustrating, but you know, it was hard first, but it's about perspective, because there's so many things worse than going oh-for your first sixteen," Clark said, "I was looking for just that first one and it just seemed like it wouldn't fall, but at the same time like I said, there's so many worse things in the world."

The score rested at 8-2 when freshman phenom Pico Kohn took the mound for mop-up duty in the seventh inning. In the eighth, Kohn had possibly the biggest moment of his young season with the bases loaded and two away. Kohn struck out the Tigers' batter to escape the inning unscathed. Drew Talley came in to shut the door on the Tigers in the top of the ninth, and the rest was history. 

Head coach Chris Lemonis spoke to reporters after the game about Kohn's performance and how big of a moment it was to be able to escape it. 

"I think it's huge," said Lemonis, "and he makes a really good pitch and we're out of position defensively ... we should have turned that double play and got off the field, so it was kind of a jam that we created, and then he works out of it which was huge. Pico is really talented, and we're going to need him a lot."

MSU and Princeton will square off yet again tomorrow at 1 p.m. CT with MSU looking to take the series and the Tigers looking to bounce back. That game will be aired on SEC Network Plus.