No. 5 Mississippi State no-hits Kent State to win 13-0

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Four Mississippi State pitchers combined to allow zero hits as the No. 5 Bulldogs defeated Kent State 13-0 in a rubber match game Sunday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.

Freshman starting pitcher Jackson Fristoe (1-1) struck out eight in six innings tossed. Sophomore righty Landon Sims walked one batter and struck out two in the seventh inning.

Freshman right-hander Mikey Tepper pitched 1 ²⁄₃ innings with three strikeouts before junior southpaw Cam Tullar got the final out of the game.

The Bulldogs (8-3, 0-0 SEC) scored single runs in the first three innings, two in the fifth and four in both the seventh and eighth innings.

MSU cranked out 16 hits in the win and was led by sophomore Kamren James with a 3-for-4 day at the plate with five RBIs and one run scored. Two of his RBIs came from a two-run home run to left field in the fifth inning.

Senior Rowdey Jordan, senior Josh Hatcher and freshman Lane Forsythe all finished with two hits apiece.

The Golden Flashes (4-4, 0-0 MAC) used five pitchers in the game. Junior right-hander Max Rippl (1-1) got the start and was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on five hits in four innings. He fanned two batters and walked three.

The Bulldogs took 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when graduate student Scotty Dubrule drew a walk and scored on James’ RBI single.

In the second inning, sophomore Logan Tanner and Hatcher hit back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. Hatcher was called out trying to steal second before sophomore Drew McGowan’s sacrifice fly scored Tanner to make it 2-0.

Jordan walked to leadoff the third and moved up to second on a balk. Senior Tanner Allen’s groundout moved him to third and he scored on a wild pitch.

Allen reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning and James followed with a two-run home run to make it a 5-0 ballgame.

In the sixth inning, RBI singles in from Dubrule and Allen made it 7-0 before James’ two-RBI double made it 9-0.

An RBI single from junior Brandon Pimentel made it 10-0 before a two-RBI single from junior Landon Jordan made it 12-0 and an RBI single from junior Kace Garner scored the 13th and final run of the game.

The Bulldogs return to the diamond Tuesday when they host Grambling State at 6 p.m. CT. It will air on SEC Network+.