Mississippi State Takes Series At Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the series on the line, Mississippi State rallied for a 6-4 win over Alabama Sunday afternoon in the final game of the Southeastern Conference series at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

State won its third conference series on the year, and its first on the road. With the win, MSU improved to 26-22 (11-13 SEC), while Alabama fell to 24-25 (6-18 SEC).

The Crimson Tide jumped out to a 3-0 lead through four innings of play. After a double by Cobie Vance, Joe Breaux singled and scored Vance to give Alabama the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Tide scored another run in the second inning when Vance singled to score Hunter Alexander, who hit a one-out double. Keith Holcombe’s single in the fourth inning scored Vance to make it 3-0.

In the top of the fifth inning, Hunter Stovall singled and Elijah MacNamee followed that up with a two-run home run to cut the Diamond Dawg deficit to just one run.

Jake Mangum led off the sixth inning with a double. After a sacrifice bunt, Tanner Allen drew a walk. Luke Alexander then hit a game-tying sacrifice fly to score Mangum,After Hunter Stovall singled to right center, Justin Foscue doubled to left center to score Stovall and Allen and give the Diamond Dawgs a 5-3 lead.

Alabama added a run in the home half of the sixth after Holcombe singled and scored Breaux.

In the top of the seventh inning, Allen hit an RBI-double to score Rowdey Jordan and end the game’s scoring.

The Crimson Tide held the hits advantage 10-7. Stovall led the Dawgs with three hits.

Denver McQuary got the start on the mound MSU. He pitched 1.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits. Jacob Billingsley finished that inning and pitched the next two, allowing one run.

JP France (3-2) then followed with a strong outing. He pitched five innings, allowing just one run on five hits and added four strikeouts.

Kyle Cameron (1-2) was charged with the Crimson Tide loss. He pitched 2.2 innings in relief and allowed five runs, all earned, on five hits.

MSU will face Troy Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in the final non-conference game of the regular season.