Mississippi State Baseball’s Rally Falls Short

THIBODAUX, La. – A four-run eighth inning wasn’t enough, as Mississippi State fell to the Nicholls State Colonels 7-4 Tuesday night at Didier Field.

MSU fell to 13-13 (1-5 SEC). With the win, Nicholls improved to 9-15. The win marks the first time Nicholls has beat Mississippi State in program history.

The Colonels scored their first two runs in the third inning on two Mississippi State throwing errors.

Nicholls increased its lead to 4-0 in the sixth inning, after a double by Kyle Knauth scored a pair of runs. Nicholls widened the gap even further in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Gage Teer to make it a 5-0 ballgame.

The Diamond Dawgs rallied for four runs in the eighth inning to cut into the five-run deficit. Luke Alexander and Tanner Allen drew back-to-back walks to start that inning. Josh Hatcher then hit a single to load the bases. After a pair of outs, Jordan Westburg hit a two-run single to center field. Marshall Gilbert followed with a two-run double to make the score 5-4.

In the bottom half of the eighth, the Colonels got a clutch two-run home run from Lee Clark to make 7-4. The Diamond Dawg’s comeback attempt fell short after a no-hit ninth inning.

State finished with six hits. Westburg and Gilbert each had two hits. Nicholls finished with nine hits.

Jacob Billingsley drew the start and pitched the first two innings. Denver McQuary (0-1) pitched the third inning and took the loss after allowing two runs, one earned, on one hit. Cole Marsh, Keegan James, Trysten Barlow and Riley Self also pitched for the Diamond Dawgs.

Bryan Taylor (2-3) pitched three innings, and earned the win. He allowed no runs on one hit, and struck out three batters.

MSU will return to SEC play on Thursday at LSU (16-9) with a 7 p.m. CT first pitch on SEC Network. The series will continue on Friday at 7 p.m., before concluding at 2 p.m. on Saturday.