By By Mark Etheridge / special to The Star
May 24, 2002
HOOVER, Ala. In a Bulldog bubble battle, Mississippi State defeated Georgia 10-3 to advance in the SEC Tournament on Thursday. Mississippi State (34-23-1) will face Alabama or Florida Friday at 3 p.m.
Sophomore lefty Paul Maholm (10-3) picked up the win working all nine innings. He allowed six hits, struck out six, and walked two.
MSU loaded the bases in the first off Georgia starter Mickey Westphal (5-5). Matthew Maniscalco and Chad Henry both singled.  Steve Gendron walked bringing up Robbie Goodson who connected with a groundball single to right scoring two.
Henry added another pair of runs in the second with an RBI double. and Maniscalco knocked in another in the seventh with a sac fly. Jon Mungle singled in Jason Burkley in the eighth. Chad Henry followed with a two-run single. Steve Gendron plated another run to complete the four run inning.
Georgia (30-27) rallied off a tiring Maholm in the eighth for three runs. Ned Yost, Adam Swann, and Lee Mitchell all had RBI hits.
Mungle completed the MSU scoring with an RBI single in the ninth.
Many considered this game an elimination game for NCAA Regional play.
As for Georgia, Polk had this to say. "I told David (Perno), I wouldn't release the Georgia kids to go home.' They have a great RPI. We beat them three out of four so that is a feather in our cap."