Mississippi State baseball wrapped up SEC opening weekend with a 2-1 series loss at Arkansas on Saturday. The teams played a Saturday doubleheader in anticipation of bad weather on Sunday, splitting Games Two and Three after the Razorbacks walked off to win Game One on Friday.
The Bulldogs took Game Two of the series with a rampant offensive showing from Ace Reese, who accounted for five of MSU’s seven runs in the afternoon. He got things rolling with a three-run home run in the third inning, capitalizing after Bryce Chance and Aidan Teel got on base with two outs. He would get Chance and Teel home once again two innings later with a two-out double to make it 5-0, and RBI hits from Kevin Milewski and Drew Wyers gave MSU a 7-0 lead going into the final two innings.
The Razorbacks got two runs back in the eighth inning, but couldn’t mount a full-scale comeback to take the series.
It would go to a decisive Game Three, where the Bulldogs once again took an early lead. RBI hits from Wyers, Chance and Teel in the second inning made it a 3-0 ballgame, but there was a missed opportunity to add even more. MSU would leave a couple of runners on base, and wouldn’t score the rest of the way again.
The Razorbacks started to chip away at the lead with two runs scoring on a wild pitch and a passed ball, bringing up bad memories of losses to Southern Miss and UCLA as the Bulldogs got in their own way.
Arkansas tied the game in the fifth inning and completed the comeback from 3-0 down with a strong showing in the eighth inning. The hosts got started thanks to an RBI hit by Maika Niu. MSU’s James Nunnallee missed the ball while collecting a drive into right field, which allowed Landon Schaefer more than enough time to round third base and score to put the Hogs up 4-3. It would have been a difficult throw for Nunnallee to get him out at the plate either way, but the bobble sealed the deal.
They would add another run on a drive into center field by DJ Pompey, who walked off the Bulldogs on Friday, and to make matters worse a third run would score on a fielding error by Reese with a chance to end the inning. A run walked in made it 7-3 going into the ninth.
The Bulldogs would get two runners aboard, but failed to bring anyone home.
MSU will be back at home for its next game, a midweek test against Jackson State on Tuesday, followed by its first home SEC series against Vanderbilt at the weekend.
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