No. 6 Bulldogs baseball defeated 7-3 in series opener

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The No. 6 Mississippi State baseball team fell 7-3 Friday night in the first game of a three-game series against the Tulane Green Wave at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs (3-2, 0-0 SEC) were outhit 8-6 in the contest. The Green Wave (3-2, 0-0 AAC) benefited from four MSU errors and a tremendous night on the mound from right-handed redshirt junior pitcher Braden Olthoff (1-0).

Senior Tanner Allen led MSU with two hits and one RBI. Junior lefty Christian MacLeod (0-1) allowed three unearned runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Olthoff allowed two runs on six hits in eight innings of work. He struck out six batters and walked one.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when senior Rowdey Jordan doubled to left-center and scored on an RBI single by Allen.

MacLeod struck out the first two Green Wave batters in the top of the third before hitting redshirt freshman Ethan Groff. Groff then advanced to second base when MSU sophomore catcher Logan Tanner attempted to catch him stealing, but sophomore Kamren James failed to make the play. Tulane redshirt sophomore Collin Burns followed with a two-run home run to left field. Redshirt junior Trevor Minder then singled and scored on an RBI single from redshirt junior Frankie Niemann to make it a 3-1 game.

In the sixth inning, Niemann reached on a fielding error by James. A walk by sophomore righty Xavier Lovett then put two runners on with one out. A double from redshirt sophomore Jared Hart scored Niemann before a single from redshirt freshman Simon Baumgardt brought in two more runs to increase the Tulane lead to 6-1.

In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Allen reached on a one-out single and scored on an RBI double from senior Josh Hatcher to make it 6-2.

An RBI single from Niemann increased the Green Wave lead to 7-2 before the Bulldogs added a run when junior Luke Hancock walked and scored on a Tulane error on a routine ground ball to end the game’s scoring at 7-3.

The squads return to the diamond Saturday for a 2 p.m. CT first pitch. It will air on SEC Network+.