STARKVILLE — Two outs. Bottom of the ninth. Tying run on base, potential game-winning run at the plate. And coming to bat for Mississippi State was… Khal Stephen.

The same Khal Stephen who had not taken an at-bat all season long and never batted during his two years at Purdue either. The same Khal Stephen who was the winning pitcher just a night ago. Stephen struck out swinging to end the game, a 3-2 MSU loss to Georgia. But the reason Stephen — and so many others who did not start — were in the game to begin with is why Saturday night’s game will be remembered for a long time.

With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, UGA had pinch-runner Dillon Carter at first base and two outs when Tre Phelps hit a line drive into the right-center field gap. Center fielder Connor Hujsak cut the ball off shy of the fence and threw it in, and second baseman Amani Larry made an excellent relay throw to the plate, where catcher Johnny Long applied the tag on Carter for the third out.

Long then stood over Carter and appeared to have some words for the baserunner, at which point players from both benches spilled onto the field. The umpires reviewed the play and determined that Long did not make malicious contact with Carter, but the game was then delayed for several more minutes for the umpires and the Southeastern Conference office to sort out which players would be ejected.

Both coaches were told the list of ejections, but the names were not made public. MSU (20-12, 5-6 SEC) played the rest of the game with Stephen and fellow pitcher Luke Dotson in the outfield, and Hujsak and David Mershon were State’s only starters who played all nine innings.

All players ejected during a game are also suspended for their team’s next game, so MSU could well be playing Sunday’s rubber match of the series with a shorthanded squad.

“Not one of those kids who got kicked out was aggressive,” State head coach Chris Lemonis said. “Nobody started a fight. They were on the field. They were coming off the field to congratulate their teammate, and my entire lineup gets taken out? That’s what we’re teaching kids? Somebody who interpreted the rule, that’s interpreted the wrong way.”

Dakota Jordan, Nate Chester and Bryce Chance were all pinch-hit for in the bottom of the eighth. Larry, Long and Logan Kohler exited the game as well, as did three of Georgia’s starters.

Clayton Chadwick’s solo home run in the top of the ninth off Cam Schuelke ended up as the decisive blow as UGA (24-7, 5-6) evened the series.

“Both teams came out of the dugout,” Lemonis said. “But if they didn’t see your number, they couldn’t pick you. I’m sorry, that’s just subjective. You’re picking and choosing what you want to do, and that’s really poor.”

The chaos and confusion took attention away from another solid start by sophomore Jurrangelo Cijntje, who ran into some trouble in the first inning but limited the damage to one run, then allowed a solo shot in the fifth to college baseball’s home run leader, Charlie Condon. Cijntje racked up eight strikeouts without issuing a walk in five innings of work.

Jordan’s two-run single in the third gave MSU its only runs of the game, and Georgia relief ace Brian Zeldin struck out eight batters in 4 ⅓ scoreless innings.

“I’m really pissed because we’re in the fight of the SEC race,” Lemonis said. “What’s happening in between the lines for the student-athletes, you don’t get to see because of some silly rule. And then we’re just going to subjectively pick and choose what we want to do and what we want to enforce.”