By Staff
From staff reports
April 18, 2001
STARKVILLE Former Meridian Community College and West Lauderdale High School baseball standout Daniel Stewart picked up his third victory of the season Tuesday night, when he helped Southern Miss knock off arch-rival Mississippi State, 6-2.
Stewart, a junior, improved to 3-3 overall this season and helped lift the recently-struggling Golden Eagles back to the .500 mark at 20-20.
He allowed just one walk and struck out five in 7 2/3 innings of work, striking out 10 along the way.
Stephen Castleman finished the contest to earn his fourth save of the year for Southern.
Mississippi State, ranked 18th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, fell to 23-15 overall.
Another former MCC Eagle current USM skipper Corky Palmer said Tuesday's win over State was "one of the best games we've played all year.
Mississippi State scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead, but that was the only run the Bulldogs could muster until a similar rally in the eighth.
In between, the Golden Eagles used a four-run rally in the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh to take the lead.
In the fifth, USM got a three-run triple from Clint Stoy and an RBI double from Allen Winningham.
The two teams meet again tonight in Starkville.
State tried to rally in the ninth with three singles to help produce a run, but that's where the scoring stopped for MSU and head coach Pat McMahon.