No. 4 Mississippi State baseball drops series finale at No. 18 South Carolina in 11 innings

COLUMBIA, S.C. — After winning the first two games of a three-game series with No. 18 South Carolina, No. 4 Mississippi State fell 4-3 in an extra-inning battle on Sunday at Founders Park.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, South Carolina senior Jeff Heinrich hit a one-out single to right field off Junior Brandon Smith before junior David Mendham hit an RBI double to the left-center field gap to give the Gamecocks a walk-off win.

With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 35-11 (16-8 SEC), while the Gamecocks move to 28-17 (12-12 SEC).

Sophomore Logan Tanner recorded three of MSU’s nine hits, while freshman Kellum Clark was 2-for-4 with one run scored.

Freshman starting pitcher Jackson Fristoe tossed three innings, allowing two runs on one hit with four strikeouts and four walks. Smith (4-2) was charged with the loss after surrendering one run on three hits in two innings of work. He fanned three batters.

South Carolina redshirt sophomore pitcher Julian Bosnic (3-2) earned the win after pitching a scoreless 11th inning with one strikeout and one walk.

The Gamecocks struck first for the first time all weekend as they took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Junior Josiah Sightler was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Mendham homered to right-center field.

In the top of the third inning, Clark just missed a home run and made his way over to third base. Sophomore Kamren James brought him home with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit in half.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning on senior Tanner Allen’s home run. Senior Rowdey Jordan then homered in the top of the sixth inning to give MSU a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, sophomore Colin Burgess led off with a single up the middle before junior Wes Clarke followed with another single. With two runners on, MSU junior pitcher Cam Tullar got junior Michael Robinson to pop up on a bunt before surrendering an RBI double by Heinrich to knot things up at 3-3.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, Heinrich hit a one-out single to right field and Mendham followed with a double to left-center to give the Gamecocks a 4-3 win.

The Bulldogs will be back in action Tuesday when they host Tennessee-Martin at 6:30 p.m. CT at Dudy Noble Field. The contest will be streaming on SEC Network+.