Freshman Jacob Parker took a swing, missed, and almost fell to his knee before walking out of the batter’s box in the bottom of the 10th.
Parker had two home runs on the day, fueling an unbelievable comeback for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had trailed by five runs, before battling and taking a 9-8 lead in the eighth. Georgia forced extras, but State was in it.
He took a home run hack at a high fastball with two runners on and two out, but couldn’t send his third ball over the wall. UGA players ran out of their dugout, they were going to Omaha.
MSU’s dugout looked on, shattered, blank stares painted on their tired faces. Their season was over.
UGA took game two of the Athens Super Regional 11-9 in extras on Sunday, fending off a comeback effort from the desperate Bulldogs.
“I’m proud of our guys, I’m proud of this guy (Parker). I know he hurst cause the game ends with his at bat, but we wouldn’t be where we’re at without his and his teams contributions,” Head Coach Brian O’Connor said.
MSU was down 7-2 after five. A Kevin Milewski two-run bomb was the only life State’s offense had displayed. Georgia starter Caden Aoki kept MSU in check. He threw a career-high 121 pitches, going 5.2 innings with four runs, eight hits and nine strikeouts.
State’s offense woke up once got to the bullpen. Trailing 8-4 in the seventh inning, junior Ace Reese, graduate Noah Sullivan and Parker hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs bringing the game within one.
Parker hit a two-RBI jack low in the zone in the eighth inning, giving State a 9-8 lead.
“We fought all year. We fought yesterday, we fought today,” Parker said. “We really love going to work together, playing with each other. It was such a fun year.”
State had a chance to force a game three in regulation, but a one out RBI single from Georgia’s Brennan Hudson tied the game at 9-9.
Golden Spikes award candidate Daniel Jackson hit a two-run bomb in the top of the 10th, proving was be the nail in the coffin for State.
The two, three and four hitters for MSU led the offensive charge. Parker had three RBIs on two home runs in the clean up spot. Graduate Noah Sullivan had two hits and an RBI in the three-hole. Junior Ace Reese had a solo home run and three hits hitting second.
MSU threw four pitchers. Starter Ryan McPherson struggled, allowing four runs in his 1.1 innings of work. O’Connor turned to sophomore Duke Stone early, who ate 5.2 innings and allowed four runs on five hits.
Junior Tyler Pitzer went 2.1 innings with two earned runs. Freshman Maddox Miller pitched two outs in the 10th inning. State’s pitchers combined for eight walks.
“We couldn’t figure out pitching wise what to do to get them out,” O’Connor said. “Today was more a story of free passes and then them getting hits or home runs…. we just had too many walks today to win this ball game.”
UGA and MSU combined for a historically high-scoring super regional. The two games saw 45 total runs and 21 home runs across 19 innings. UGA’s total margin of victory was just three. MSU finished the season 0-6 against UGA.
Jake is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for The Dispatch.
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