STARKVILLE, Miss. ? Forrest Moore allowed one run in 6.0 innings and Mississippi State defeated the University of South Alabama baseball team 5-1 Tuesday night in at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, Miss.

“Today Mississippi State just outplayed us,” head coach Steve Kittrell said. “We didn’t swing the bats as well as we can, and we made some baserunning mistakes. We’ve got to hurry up and learn from them. We pitched well and played some good defense, but we’ve got to run the bases smarter and swing it better.”

South Alabama (2-3) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, when designated hitter Brandon Brown ripped a double down the right-field line and came around to score after a Clint Reynolds single and a Nathaniel Lami sacrifice fly.

Mississippi State (4-1) answered quickly with two runs in the fourth inning. Connor Powers hit a solo home run with one out, and after Ryan Duffy walked, Michael Raia came on in relief of Dustin Crenshaw, the Jags’ starting pitcher. Three batters later, the Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead on an RBI single from Ryan Powers.

Raia was replaced by Jarrett Bailey after MSU put runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth. The first batter Bailey faced, Duffy, drilled a two-run double to left-center, then came around to score on a Scott DeLoach single, and the Bulldogs extended their lead to 5-1.

Bailey settled down and held the Bulldogs scoreless on two hits over the next three frames, but the Jags were unable to make up any ground against MSU reliever Chad Crosswhite, who came on in relief of Moore in the seventh.

Crosswhite allowed one hit in the final three innings to earn the save. Crenshaw was saddled with the loss in his first career start at USA. He gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in 3.1 innings.

Both Clint Reynolds and Brown notched their first career multi-hit games. Brown finished the night 2-for-3 with the Jags’ only run, and Reynolds, starting in place of injured center fielder Adam Heisler, went 2-for-3. Ryan Bohanan and David Doss were the only other Jags to record hits, and Zach Grichor walked twice in four trips to the plate.

USA returns to action Wednesday when it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss. to take on another foe from the Magnolia State, Southern Miss. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Notes:  Reynolds has started each of the last two games after starting one game in his first two seasons at USA ... Mississippi State’s seven through nine hitters each had multi-hit games ... All five of USA’s games have seen the first pitch thrown with the temperature in the 50s.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).