Mississippi State Drops Midweek Contest With Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Mississippi State’s offense struggled Wednesday night, as the Diamond Dawgs were held to just five hits, and dropped a midweek non-conference matchup with the Memphis Tigers 6-1 at AutoZone Park.

With the loss, State falls to 19-19 (5-10 SEC). Memphis improves to 13-25.

Memphis took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after a solo home run by Alec Trela. The Tigers added another run in the second inning when Cale Hennemann hit a sac-fly.

The game would remain 2-0 until the top of the seventh inning when Tanner Allen hit a leadoff triple and scored on a double by Hunter Stovall to make it a 2-1 ballgame. Josh Hatcher then reached on a walk putting base-runners on first and second, but MSU failed to push anymore runs across.

In the home half of the seventh inning, the Tigers added four runs to push the lead to a game-ending score of 7-1. Tyler Webb hit a sacrifice fly, Trela hit an RBI-single and Colton Neel hit a two-RBI single.

The Diamond Dawg’s lone bright spot offensively came from a pair of doubles from Stovall. Memphis had 10 hits on the evening, led by Trela with four hits.

MSU starter Denver McQuary (1-2) was charged with the loss after pitching three innings, allowing two runs, both earned, on three hits. He had three strikeouts and one walk to his credit.

Keegan James also pitched three innings. He allowed zero runs on three hits and struck out one batter.

Jared Liebelt started the seventh inning, only getting one out. He would then give way to Blake Smith, who also only got one out. Zach Neff then got the final out and pitched the final out.

Connor Alexander (2-2) was credited with the win for the Tigers. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out three batters. He also walked two batters.

The Diamond Dawgs will return home to Dudy Noble Field for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against No. 3 Arkansas as part of MSU’s annual Super Bulldog Weekend.