STARKVILLE, Miss. – Georgia snapped a seven-game losing streak by outlasting Mississippi State 7-4 Saturday in front of a crowd of 4,210 at Dudy Noble Field.

Thanks in part to State’s deliberate style of play featuring a parade of hurlers and their proclivity for throws to first base on runners with miniscule leads, not to mention several conferences with the umpiring crew by both head coaches, Saturday’s game lasted three hours and 45 minutes. That tally was just shy of Friday’s contest that went a season-long 3:54. With the win, Georgia improves to 9-14 overall, 1-4 in the SEC.

“I spent a lot of time on the field today, and I have never done that, but we felt like Kentucky controlled the game from their dugout yesterday, and I wasn’t going to sit back and watch that again,” said Perno. “We’ve got a good crew working this series, I was just protecting my guys.”

State (13-10, 1-4 SEC) took a 1-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring single by designated hitter Russ Sneed. MSU freshman right-hander Chris Stratton cruised through the first three frame, recording seven strikeouts before the Bulldogs chased him in the fourth. Georgia scored five runs on three hits, two bases-loaded walks and a sacrifice fly. Georgia sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning with sophomore Zach Cone starting it off by extending his hitting streak to 13 games with a single. Sophomore second baseman Levi Hyams capped the outburst with a two-run single for a 5-1 advantage.

Georgia sophomore catcher Christian Glisson led off the sixth with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Johnathan Taylor. Then, sophomore Peter Verdin made it 6-1 with a run-scoring single. In the bottom of the frame, State trimmed the deficit to 6-4, taking advantage of an array of miscues. After Georgia right-hander Just Grimm hit Sneed with a pitch to load the bases with one out, State got a sacrifice fly from Ryan Collins and scored two additional runs courtesy of a two wild pitches and an error by shortstop Kyle Farmer.

Grimm provided the Bulldogs with six strong innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts for the victory. Georgia brought in senior Steve Esmonde  to face the bottom of the State order in the seventh. He struck out Jonathan Ogden before Sam Frost reached on a bunt single. He got Nick Vickerson to fly out and then Verdin made an impressive catch up against the 374 sign on the right field wall of a drive by Luke Adkins to send it to the eighth with Georgia still up 6-4. Verdin reached on a walk, took third on a double by Hyams and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cone for a 7-4 lead and then Georgia brought in freshman Cooper Moseley to try and preserve the win. He pitched a clean eighth before some drama in the ninth.

State’s first three batters reached on a hit by pitch, double and a walk. Moseley battled back to retire the next three hitters including back-to-back strikeouts of Vickerson and Adkins to end the contest and register his first save.

“We had a good approach at the plate, we’ve been swinging it well in this series, and the pitching today was solid,” said Perno.” Justin gave us a quality start, Steve gave us another good inning and Cooper came through for a save. I told him after the bases loaded that he didn’t have to pitch himself into a save situation, he was in line for one and to settle down and throw strikes. This was a big win for us and gives us a chance to win the series.”

The series concludes Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Georgia will start sophomore right-hander Michael Palazzone (3-2, 9.15 ERA) while MSU will go with freshman left-hander Chad Girodo (1-1, 5.09 ERA.