pitching in

This one goes out to the ones who pitch. A boatload of state college pitchers showed no love for hitters on Valentine’s Day. Yes, Mississippi State scored 30 runs in a doubleheader demolition of Manhattan on Friday, but not to be overlooked are the mound efforts of starters Pico Kohn (no runs, one hit, 11 strikeouts in five innings) and Karson Ligon (one run, eight K’s in four innings). The visiting Jaspers scored just four runs on the day. For Southern Miss, in a 9-2 victory against visiting Lafayette, J.B. Middleton delivered six scoreless innings. Ole Miss took down nationally ranked Arizona 2-1 as Hunter Elliott, looking like his old self, threw five shutout innings at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Delta State’s Drake Fontenot and Dylan Farley combined for 13 shutout innings in the streaking Statesmen’s 6-0 and 3-0 sweep of Lee University to open Gulf South play. Fontenot punched out 11 in seven innings. Mississippi College beat GSC foe West Georgia 3-1 as Caleb Peterson held the Red Wolves to one earned run over five innings. Andrew Shirah went 7 1/3 innings (two earned runs) for William Carey in a 9-2 win at Abraham Baldwin AC. Shirah is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA for the 6-2 Crusaders and has won 21 games in his three seasons at WCU. At Trustmark Park in Pearl, Belhaven opened its season with a 7-3 win against Mount Saint Mary and with Colton Sylvester limiting the New York-based visitors to a lone earned run over six innings. And Millsaps beat Edgewood 10-4 as Nick Tarantino allowed one earned run with nine K’s in five innings.