No. 7 Mississippi State pulls off incredible comeback, tops Virginia 6-5

OMAHA, Neb. — No. 7 Mississippi State was held hitless through seven innings before scoring six runs in the eighth inning en route to a 6-5 win over Virginia on Tuesday night in a College World Series game at TD Ameritrade Park.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 47-16 and need just one win to reach the best-of-three finals next week. Virginia falls to 36-26 and will play No. 2 Texas on Thursday.

MSU junior starting pitcher Christian MacLeod allowed four runs on five hits in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings with two walks.

The bullpen then held Virginia scoreless until the eighth inning. Freshman Cade Smith (3-0) pitched an inning for the win and Landon Sims got the final four outs to earn his 12th save.

Virginia senior starting pitcher Griff McGarry was trying for the first CWS no-hitter since 1960, but his no-hit bid ended on freshman Kellum Clark’s eighth-inning homer. He finished with eight strikeouts in 7 ¹⁄₃ innings, surrendering one hit, two walks and two runs.

Junior Zach Messinger then allowed two runs on two hits. Graduate student Stephen Schoch (4-2) was charged with the loss after senior Tanner Allen hit a three-run home run off him.

The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when junior Zack Gelof singled to center field, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on freshman Kyle Teel’s RBI single up the middle.

Freshman Jake Gelof drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second inning and was sacrificed up to second. Sophomore Chris Newell and Zack Gelof followed with back-to-back RBI doubles before sophomore Max Cotier put Virginia ahead 4-0 with an RBI single.

In the top of the eighth inning, graduate student Scotty Dubrule drew a leadoff walk. A flyout followed before Clark homered to right field to cut the deficit in half. Senior Josh Hatcher then reached on a pinch-hit single and senior Rowdey Jordan followed with a double. Senior Tanner Allen then hit a go-ahead three-run home run to right field. MSU extended its lead to 6-4 with an RBI single from Dubrule.

The Cavaliers got a run back in the bottom half of the eighth when sophomore Chris Newell homered to left field to end the game’s scoring at 6-5.

The Bulldogs return to action Friday when they play the winner of Virginia and Texas at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.