March 2, 2014

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GULFPORT, Miss. - Junior Dakota Pyles (Galloway, Ohio) smashed her second home run of the 2014 season, and junior Lauren McClary (Pasadena, Texas) and sophomore Savannah Jo Dorsey (Grove City, Ohio) combined to limit Mississippi State (18-1) to just four hits, but the Ohio University softball team (12-6) dropped a 2-1 decision on Sunday (March 2) at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Softball Classic.

McClary worked 3.2 innings and struck out three. Dorsey tossed 3.1 frames and fanned four. The pitching staff combined to limit the opposition to just 12 earned runs on 28 hits over five games against two top-22 ranked opponents and three other squads with winning records.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Bobcats knotted things up courtesy of a one-out solo shot by Pyles in the home half of the third.

Mississippi State kept Ohio off the scoreboard the rest of the way, though, and plated the game's winning run in the fourth.

The Bobcats will play their first three midweek games of the 2014 campaign over three days in Nashville, Tenn. Ohio faces Tennessee State on Tuesday (March 4) at 6 p.m. ET, then battles Lipscomb in a doubleheader on Wednesday (March 5) that is set to get underway at 3 p.m. ET.

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