No. 9 Mississippi State tops Tulane 19-2 in series opener

NEW ORLEANS — No. 9 Mississippi State tallied 17 hits en route to a 19-2 win over Tulane on Friday night to open a three-game series at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The Bulldogs (6-4, 0-0 SEC) scored one run in the second inning, one in the third, four in the fourth, nine in the fifth, two in the seventh and two in the ninth. The Green Wave (8-2, 0-0 AAC) scored one run each in the sixth and eighth innings.

MSU outhit Tulane 17-4 and benefited from four errors by the Green Wave. Sophomore Kellum Clark and freshman Hunter Hines both contributed with two hits and three RBIs. Senior Luke Hancock, junior Logan Tanner and senior Brad Cumbest all finished with two hits and two RBIs.

Sophomore Bennett Lee led Tulane with two hits, while redshirt sophomore Ethan Groff finished with one hit and two RBIs.

Junior Landon Sims got the start on the mound for the Bulldogs, and he was absolutely dominant. He fanned 10 of the 11 batters he faced before leaving in the fourth inning with an apparent hand injury. Senior Brandon Smith (1-0) got credit for the win after allowing one run on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings.

Senior Cam Tullar then pitched the eighth inning and allowed one run on one hit with one walk. Senior Drew Talley finished things with three strikeouts in the ninth.

Redshirt junior Tyler Hoffman (0-2) started on the mound for the Green Wave and was charged with the loss after allowing six runs (five earned) on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 3 ²⁄₃ innings. Tulane used seven pitchers in total. The staff threw 227 total pitches.

The Bulldogs got on the board in the top of the second inning when Tanner led off with a single, advanced to second on a fielding error, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Clark’s RBI single through the right side.

Hancock led off the top of the third inning with a single on a tapper in front of the mound and advanced to second on a throwing error. Junior Kamren James then singled before a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners. Junior Von Seibert’s RBI single through the left side made it 2-0.

In the top of the fourth inning, graduate student RJ Yeager hit a one-out single up the middle. Senior Tanner Leggett was then hit by a pitch and Hancock drew a walk to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from James plated Yeager before Hines cleared the bases with a three-run home run to left field to make it a 6-0 ballgame.

MSU then exploded for nine runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 15-0 lead. Cumbest got things going with a double to left-center field and a groundout advanced him to third base. Yeager’s RBI single then plated him. Leggett then reached on a throwing error to put runners on the corners and Hancock followed with an RBI single up the middle. A sacrifice fly from James added another run before Hines doubled down the right-field line to put runners on second and third. Tanner scored Hancock and Hines with a two-RBI single down the left-field line and Cumbest scored two more runs with a two-RBI double. Clark followed with a two-run home run to right field to end the big inning.

The Green Wave got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when graduate student Trevor Minder doubled to left field and advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on Groff’s sacrifice fly to make it 15-1.

Hancock drove home the Bulldogs’ 16th run in the top of the seventh inning with an infield grounder and junior Drew McGowan’s bases-loaded walk made it 17-1.

Tulane got a run in the bottom of the eighth inning on Groff’s RBI double to right-center field to make it 17-2.

In the top of the ninth inning, sophomores Davis Meche and Lane Forsythe hit back-to-back singles. A wild pitch moved both runners up before another wild pitch scored Meche and moved Forsythe to third. Freshman Slate Alford’s RBI groundout ended the game’s scoring at 19-2.

The Bulldogs and Green Wave will meet again Saturday at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN+.