No. 2 Bulldogs fall 8-2 in series opener against No. 3 Razorbacks

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The No. 2 Mississippi State baseball team couldn’t get things going on Friday night as it fell 8-2 to No. 3 Arkansas in the first game of a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs (17-5, 2-2 SEC) were outhit by a 10-4 margin. Freshman Lane Forsythe was 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Senior Rowdey Jordan finished 1-for-3 with one RBI, while junior Luke Hancock tallied one hit and one run.

MSU scored its two runs in the fifth and ninth innings, while Arkansas (17-3, 3-1 SEC) scored three in the top of the first inning, two in the fourth, two in the seventh and one in the ninth.

Junior lefty Christian MacLeod (2-2) was charged with the loss after allowing five runs on six hits in 3 ²⁄₃ innings of work. He fanned four batters and walked two.

Sophomore righty Stone Simmons then tossed 2 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing two runs on one hit with four strikeouts and one walk. Right-handed senior Chase Patrick relieved Simmons and surrendered two RBI singles in two-thirds of an inning.

Right-handed graduate student Riley Self and junior southpaw Cam Tullar then combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning.

Freshman lefty Dylan Carmouche pitched the ninth inning and allowed one unearned run on one hit with two strikeouts and one walk.

Junior southpaw Patrick Wicklander (1-0) earned the win for the Razorbacks after allowing one run on two hits with three strikeouts and four walks.

The Razorbacks took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to home runs from senior Matt Goodheart, freshman Cayden Wallace and junior Christian Franklin.

A home run from Franklin and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Robert Moore extended the Arkansas lead to 5-0 after four innings.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Forsythe singled to right field before advancing to second on a groundout. Jordan’s RBI single up the middle made it 5-1.

RBI singles from Goodheart and junior Brady Slavens pushed the Arkansas lead to 7-1 in the seventh inning.

In the top of the ninth inning, redshirt senior Braydon Webb lined a ball through sophomore Kamren James at third base to reach first safely. After a strikeout, Webb stole second. He then made his way to third on a wild pitch before Slavens scored him with a single to right field to make it an 8-1 ballgame.

MSU picked up a run in the bottom half after Hancock singled up the middle, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Forsythe’s single to right field to end the game’s scoring at 8-2.

The Bulldogs will look to bounce back in the second game of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be streaming on SEC Network+.