Scoring 19 runs over three games against the team with the second-best ERA in college baseball is not an accomplishment to be taken lightly. But Mississippi State could not turn that offensive outburst into a series win at Arkansas, letting a six-run lead slip away in Sunday’s rubber match.
The No. 14 Bulldogs (33-18, 15-12 Southeastern Conference) made Razorbacks left-hander Hagen Smith, the nation’s ERA leader, work for everything in a 7-5 loss Friday night, forcing him out of the game after five innings and 94 pitches. Smith struck out 11 but also walked four and allowed three runs on Hunter Hines’ bases-clearing double in the fifth.
That hit tied the game after No. 5 Arkansas (42-10, 19-8) had rallied for three runs in the fourth against MSU ace Khal Stephen, who spared the bullpen from a busy night by working seven innings. The Bulldogs took the lead for the first time in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk to Johnny Long and a sacrifice fly by Bryce Chance, but Tyson Hardin, one of their best relievers over the last two-plus months, gave it right back in the bottom half.
Hardin allowed four hits in the inning, taking the lead for good on Hudson White’s two-run single. MSU had a golden opportunity to respond in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with nobody out, but Gage Wood got Nate Chester to pop up, struck out Logan Kohler and retired Johnny Long on another popup to end the game.
“It was a great ballgame. Two really good teams competing their tails off,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis said. “They made one more pitch or got one more hit than we did. That’s what the game came down to. I don’t fault our kids at all.”
MSU’s offense loaded the bases with no outs again in the first inning Saturday evening against Brady Tygart, but this time the Bulldogs capitalized, with a double play ball bringing one run home and then Amani Larry delivering a two-run home run. A bases-loaded walk to Dakota Jordan brought in another run in the second before MSU broke it wide open in the fourth on two-run blasts by Jordan and Kohler to go ahead by eight.
Jurrangelo Cijntje was strong from the outset, holding the Razorbacks to one hit through the first three innings, but a throwing error by freshman Ethan Pulliam led to two unearned runs in the fourth, and a two-run homer in the fifth by Peyton Stovall ended Cijntje’s night. Cam Schuelke closed out that inning with no more damage before turning things over to Brooks Auger, who worked the sixth, seventh and eighth with just one run allowed.
Tyler Davis closed it out in the ninth, working around a two-out single, to earn the save and wrap up an 8-5 Bulldogs victory, Lemonis’ 200th win as MSU’s head coach.
“They’re locked in. The offense has been really good,” Lemonis said. “It’s one through nine. There’ll be a bad at-bat from a guy, but then he’ll come back and give you a really good one later. They’re really competing and fighting right now.”
The Bulldogs appeared well on their way to a series win Sunday after scoring five runs in the second inning. Pulliam and Joe Powell hit back-to-back home runs, the first of the season for each of them, and Pulliam drove in his fourth run of the day an inning later with an RBI double.
MSU still led by five entering the fifth, when Karson Ligon took over for starter Pico Kohn. But Jayson Jones’ two-run blast cut the Arkansas deficit to three, and the Razorbacks scored one more in the inning before pulling ahead in the sixth. White hit a two-run homer off Gavin Black to tie the game and Peyton Holt took Schuelke deep for a two-run shot that put Arkansas in front.
The Bulldog bats, meanwhile, went silent over the final six innings against the Razorbacks’ bullpen, losing 9-6. Arkansas improved to 33-3 at home and 13-2 against MSU since Lemonis became the Bulldogs’ head coach prior to the 2019 season.
Even with the series loss, MSU moved up to No. 16 in the RPI rankings and picked up an all-important top-10 win, remaining in contention to host an NCAA regional with one week left in the regular season. The Bulldogs host North Alabama in their final non-conference game of the year Tuesday evening, then welcome in Missouri for a three-game series beginning Thursday.
“It’s stressful, but every kid in the country wants to play in this type of environment,” Lemonis said. “It’s a blessing for us to be able to compete in front of packed houses. You have to handle the moments. This time of year in college baseball you’re fighting for so much, every win, every out. It’s very competitive.”
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