Mississippi State Baseball Drops Opener Against Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mississippi State failed to produce much on offense, as the Diamond Dawgs dropped the Southeastern Conference series opener Friday against the Missouri Tigers 4-1 at Taylor Stadium.

With the loss, Mississippi State dropped to 12-11 (0-4 SEC). Missouri improved to 18-5 (2-2 SEC).

The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. An RBI-single by Brett Bond was the first score, and a wild pitch scored the second run in the inning.

In the sixth inning, Luke Alexander hit a home run to left field to cut the Mississippi State deficit in half, but State failed to get anything else going on offense.

Missouri went on to score two more runs in the seventh inning to insure a conference victory in the series opener. Another RBI-single by Bond made it a 3-1 ballgame, and Kameron Misner plated the final run of the game to give the Tigers the 4-1 win.

The Diamond Dawgs were held to just six hits on the evening. Tanner Allen and Elijah MacNamee both ad two hits apiece. State also stranded seven base runners. Missouri had 11 hits.

Konnor Pilkington (1-3) was charged with the loss. He threw 5.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on nine hits. He struck out five batters and walked two. Keegan James pitched 2.1 innings in relief, allowing two unearned runs.

TJ Sikkema (2-0) pitched seven innings and earned the win. He allowed one run on four hits, and struck out seven batters. Andy Toelkin earned his first save of the season after pitching the last two innings.

The Diamond Dawgs and Tigers will retake the field at Taylor Stadium today for a 2 p.m. CT first pitch on SEC Network+.