STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s six-game winning streak came to an end on Friday at Dudy Noble Field with No. 11 Texas taking Game 1 of the opening series in Southeastern Conference play.
The Bulldogs had a good gameplan for Longhorns ace Jared Spencer, getting eight hits and five runs off of the starter before he was pulled in the sixth inning.
“We were challenging ourselves in the cages, facing some wicked sliders and really good fastballs,” said Noah Sullivan, who had three hits on the day. “He was really good, we were fortunate to get out of there with four-five runs off of him and make it a competitive game.”
Texas opened the scoring with a two-run shot off of Pico Kohn, but the Bulldogs answered right away in the bottom half of the second. Sullivan led off with a solo shot to pull one back, followed by hits from Hunter Hines and Gatlin Sanders to set up Ross Highfill for a three-run blast over the right field wall, flipping the score 4-2 after two innings.
The Bulldogs kept the visitors at bay over the middle innings, but it was a sloppy seventh inning that gave the game away.
Kohn found himself with two aboard and no outs when Lemonis decided to make a change, but the Longhorns feasted on reliever Chase Hungate. Texas scored five runs on three straight hits off of Hungate, including a three-run blast from Casey Borba to give the Longhorns an 8-5 lead.
“I think managing the seventh, that’s the biggest part,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said after the game. “That’s the crooked number there. Chase has been our guy all year, he’s still our guy. They just got a couple of balls through the infield and got a big hit.”
Luke Dotson steadied things with two solid innings on the mound and Stone Simmons closed well in the ninth, but the Bulldogs couldn’t get their bats going again until the very end.
MSU got two runners on with two away in the ninth and Ace Reese got both of them home with a two-run double. It was just a few feet away from clearing the outfield wall. Sullivan followed with a chance to tie or win the game, but his hit couldn’t get past the shortstop.
Sullivan said he had no doubts that Reese would pull through, and he felt good about his own swing as well.
“It came down to me again and unfortunately, I just didn’t pull through,” Sullivan said of the final at bat. “I took a pretty good swing, the shortstop made a good play. All you can ask, especially with us giving up that big inning, is to get back in there in the eighth and the ninth, and we did that. We’re a hair away from being really happy and running away with a 1-0 start in SEC play.”
It was a tough way to lose, especially after looking calm and composed for six innings, but it’s the type of game that comes with the territory in the SEC.
“The SEC starts tonight, one of 30,” Lemonis said. “We’ve been talking about how competitive it is, the fight that you have to fight. A game is never over, which we saw in the ninth tonight, and they’ve got to bounce back. Nobody feels sorry for you in this league. It is as cutthroat of a league as you’ll ever be in, and I’m proud of the way the guys fought. Unfortunately, we had an inning get away from us, but I like the fight in our guys and I know they’ll come out tomorrow or the next day and be ready to go.”
Game 2 of the series was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but poor weather conditions rolling into Starkville on Friday night prompted officials to postpone the game until Sunday. The game will begin at 1 p.m. with the series finale following 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, per a university release after the game on Friday.