No. 23 Mississippi State falls to No. 17 Texas Tech 7-2, splits midweek series

BILOXI, Miss. — After beating No. 17 Texas Tech 11-5 on Tuesday, the No. 23 Mississippi State baseball team fell 7-2 on Wednesday to split the midweek series at MGM Park.

With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 7-7 (0-0 SEC), while the Red Raiders improve to 11-3 (0-0 Big 12).

Hits were 8-3 in favor of Texas Tech. Freshman Hunter Hines and senior Brad Cumbest led MSU, both going 1-for-4 with an RBI, while junior Von Seibert was 1-for-2.

Senior Parker Kelly led the Red Raiders with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, including a grand slam. Senior Kurt Wilson was 2-for-5 with one RBI and one run, while junior Cole Stilwell was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Sophomore pitcher Jackson Fristoe (1-2) started on the mound for MSU and was charged with the loss after surrendering five runs on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 3 ²⁄₃ innings. Senior Cam Tullar entered in the fourth and allowed just one hit while striking out five batters and walking one in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings. Sophomore Mikey Tepper pitched the final two innings and allowed two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in two innings.

Redshirt freshman pitcher Jamie Hitt pitched four hitless innings with four strikeouts in his first start for the Red Raiders. The only base runners against him were from two hit batsmen and a walk. Senior pitcher Colin Clark (1-0) entered in the fifth and earned the win despite surrendering two runs on one hit with two strikeouts and one walk in one inning pitched.

In the top of the second inning, Stilwell led things off with a single to left field. After a flyout, a pair of walks loaded the bases. Kelly followed with his third grand slam in five games to give the Red Raiders a 4-0 lead. Sophomore Dillon Carter added another run in the inning with a solo home run to right field.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Bulldogs scored two runs to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Junior Kamren James drew a leadoff walk and Hines scored him with an RBI double to right-center field. A flyout pushed Hines to third before he scored on Cumbest’s RBI single to right field.

Wilson led off the top of the eighth inning with a triple to right field and scored on a wild pitch to increase Texas Tech’s lead to 6-2.

Tepper hit freshman Ryan Brome with a pitch to begin the top of the ninth inning and senior Cooper Swanson pinch ran for him. Stilwell’s single through the left side advanced him to second before he scored on Wilson’s single to end the game’s scoring at 7-2.

The Bulldogs will now return home to host Princeton in a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.