CLEVELAND, Miss. --- The Mississippi College baseball team closed out the 2024 campaign being swept in its Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Delta State University on Saturday, Apr. 27. The Statesmen rallied (28-20, 19-11 GSC) for a 5-3 victory in the twinbill lidlifter and closed out the series with a 9-2 win in the nightcap. MC concluded the season with a 20-25 mark and 10-19 in league play.
 
The Blue and Gold totaled seven runs in the twinbill on 18 hits.
 
Choctaw loaded the bases in the top of the first with one out and were shutout in the frame. DSU answered with a run in the home half of the frame and it added another in the bottom of the second to grab a 2-0 lead. Blayke Dendy gave the Statesmen the two-run margin with a solo home run in the second.
 
MC gained its first lead of the game in the top of the third as it plated three runs. Caleb Reese got the scoring started with an RBI-double to left center.  JT Vance followed with his team-leading sixth sacrifice fly that scored Blaise Breerwood and knotted the contest at 2-all. Cole Drake delivered the first Blue and Gold advantage with an RBI-single up the middle that scored Reese.
 
DSU posed danger in the bottom of the fifth as it loaded the bases with one down, but back-to-back strikeouts from Cooper Gadman thwarted the threat and kept the one-run, MC advantage in place through seven frames. The Clear Lake, Texas, native went 7.1 frames in his final start of his career. He allowed three runs on nine hits alongside two walks and five strikeouts.
 
The Statesmen regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth as they plated three runs. Wes Warnock headlined the inning with a two-run, double to left center. Brendan McCauley added an insurance run with a sac fly to center.
 
The Blue and Gold looked to extend the contest in the top of the ninth as they had two reach base, but the rally was snuffed out with the runners left standing on the bags.
 
Logan Eldridge (4-4) picked up the win on the bump as he went 8.0 innings in the start. He allowed three runs – two earned – on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Josh Hill (9) registered his ninth save as he closed the door with one hit allowed in the final frame.
 
Michael Sutton (0-1) received the loss for the Choctaw as he went the final two-thirds of an inning with two runs surrendered – one earned – on a hit paired with a walk.
 
In game two of the twinbill, the Green and White jumped on the board in the second inning as they plated four runs. Triston Hickman provided the biggest blow of the frame with a two-RBI hit to left center. The double was sandwiched between a pair of RBI singles from Taylor Woodcock and Warnock.
 
The Choctaw dented the scoreboard in the top of the fourth as Sides scored on a Korey Cooper sacrifice fly to right field. The Blue and Gold added a run in the top of the seventh as Breerwood singled down the left field line to score Bryce Capobianco.
 
The Statesmen responded with three insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth.
 
Logan Cromer (3-3) went 5.2 innings in the start as he allowed a MC run on six hits and paired it with four strikeouts.
 
Jack Bell (3-3) took the loss on the mound as he went 4.1 frames, allowing seven runs on 10 hits along with three strikeouts.