No. 5 Mississippi State baseball wins slugfest with Arkansas State 18-10

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Runs were not at a premium Tuesday night as the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball team used a 12-run eighth inning to defeat Arkansas State 18-10 at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs (25-7, 8-4 SEC) trailed 3-1 after three frames before scoring 17 unanswered runs to take an 18-3 lead after eight innings. The Red Wolves (9-17, 4-5 Sun Belt) plated seven runs in the top of the ninth before MSU ended the comeback attempt.

Freshman Lane Forsythe led the MSU offense with a 3-for-4 night at the plate with three RBIs and three runs scored. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Senior Rowdey Jordan finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, while junior Brad Cumbest added two hits, two runs and one RBI.

Graduate student pitcher Carlisle Koestler pitched 2 ²⁄₃ innings, allowing three runs and five hits. He struck out three batters and walked one.

Junior Cam Tullar then pitched 1 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Freshman Cade Smith (1-0) relieved Tullar in the fifth and pitched two scoreless innings with five strikeouts to earn the win.

Junior Preston Johnson and junior Parker Stinnett each pitched a scoreless inning before sophomore Davis Rokose gave up a solo home run in the top of the ninth and loaded the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch. Senior Drew Talley relieved him and allowed a bases-clearing double. Senior Chase Patrick got the final two outs of the game.

Arkansas State freshman pitcher Jake Algee (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on four hits in 1 ²⁄₃ innings pitched.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Jordan led off with a home run to right field.

Arkansas State freshman Jake Gish’s home run in the top of the second inning tied the game at 1-1.

In the top of the third, junior Liam Hicks and junior Ben Klutts hit back-to-back singles before moving up a base on a wild pitch. A fielder’s choice scored Hicks before junior Jaylon Deshazier scored Klutts with an RBI single to make it a 3-1 ballgame.

Senior Brayland Skinner hit a leadoff single to center field to begin the bottom of the fourth before a pair of walks followed to load the bases. Sophomore Logan Tanner’s sacrifice fly made it 3-2.

Forsythe’s home run to right field knotted the game up at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

A groundout began the bottom of the sixth inning before Tanner singled to center field. Cumbest hit a two-out single to put runners on the corners and Forsythe’s two-RBI double to right field put the Bulldogs up 5-3.

MSU added one to its lead in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead. Sophomore Kamren James was hit by a pitch and stole second. He then moved to third when a failed pickoff attempt rolled into center field. He scored when Tanner smash a ball to third that was not fielded and ended up in left field.

The Bulldogs then erupted for 12 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take an 18-3 lead. Cumbest got the scoring going with a home run to left field. Graduate student Scotty Dubrule and Forsythe followed with back-to-back singles before Jordan hit an RBI double. A pair of wild pitches then scored Forsythe and Jordan. A fielder’s choice and a passed ball resulted in MSU’s sixth run of the inning. A pinch-hit home run from sophomore Kyte McDonald scored two more runs.

Sophomore Drew McGowan kept things going with a pinch-hit double to drive in the ninth run of the inning. Freshman Kellum Clark’s first career home run then scored three more runs.

In the top of the ninth, junior Will Huber homered to right field to make it 18-4. Deshazier’s double to center field then scored three more runs. Junior Blake McCutchen added a run with an RBI single before Gish’s double to center field scored another run. A fielder’s choice scored McCutchen to end the game’s scoring at 18-10.

Up next, the Bulldogs will welcome No. 7 Ole Miss to Dudy Noble Field for Super Bulldog Weekend. The three-game series begins Friday at 6 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.