STARKVILLE – Mississippi State lost Game Two of the series in its Top 5 matchup with Georgia on Friday, struggling to get runners home in a duel between the two starting pitchers and stranding 13 runners on base in a 3-1 defeat.
MSU falls to 25-6, 7-4 in conference, and will try to avoid the sweep in Game Three at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
MSU got the start it needed from Tomas Valincius, who went 7.1 innings with 10 strikeouts and six scoreless innings before Georgia’s batters were able to get on the board. He gave up solo home runs in the seventh and eighth innings to Michael O’Shaughnessy and Ryan Wynn, respectively, but otherwise gave his offense more than enough support to try and build on an early 1-0 lead.
The offense did not oblige.
Georgia starter Dylan Vigue did his part as well, posting 5.1 innings with six strikeouts for the visitors. He walked six batters, but allowed only two hits and an earned run on a groundout in the opening inning.
Paul Farley came out of the bullpen and posted another pair of scoreless innings for the visitors. The pitchers combined to strand 11 MSU runners on base over the first seven innings of the game, putting the hosts in an uncomfortable spot late as opportunities continued to pass by.
MSU head coach Brian O’Connor first had to go to the bullpen at the top of the eighth inning, where reliever Ben Davis got out of a jam with two runners on by recording back-to-back strikeouts. He would stay on the mound in the ninth and saw a leadoff hitter get home after a stolen base, a passed ball and a sacrifice flyball to make it 3-1 Georgia going to the bottom half.
MSU would get one man aboard in their last chance at bat, with Noah Sullivan reaching on a single, but he became the last of the 13 runners stranded on the night as UGA wrapped up the win and the series.
The teams will meet again Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
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