No. 9 Mississippi State falls to Tulane 11-10 in extra innings

NEW ORLEANS — The No. 9 Mississippi State baseball team led Tulane 10-3 through six innings before the Green Wave scored eight unanswered runs to beat the Bulldogs 11-10 in 10 innings Saturday at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 6-5 (0-0 SEC), while the Green Wave improve to 9-2 (0-0 AAC).

MSU outhit Tulane 13-11 and was led by junior Logan Tanner with three hits, six RBIs and two runs. Freshman Hunter Hines was 3-for-4 with two runs, while graduate student RJ Yeager added two hits, one RBI and one run and senior Luke Hancock was 2-for-5 with one run.

The Green Wave were led by redshirt sophomore Ethan Groff with three hits, three runs and one RBI, while sophomore Bennett Lee was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs and sophomore Brayden Morrow was 2-for-3 with one run. Freshman Brady Marget accounted for four RBIs on a seventh-inning pinch-hit grand slam.

Junior Preston Johnson started on the mound for the Bulldogs and tossed six innings, allowing three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.

Freshman Jack Walker then entered in the seventh inning and gave up a double, hit a batter, gave up back-to-back singles and then gave up a grand slam that ended his day. Sophomore Mikey Tepper (0-1) was charged with the loss after allowing a walk-off home run.

Sophomore Dylan Carmouche started for Tulane and allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on nine hits with three strikeouts and four walks. Freshman Grant Siegel then pitched five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Sophomore Zach DeVito (2-0) earned the win after pitching the 10th inning.

The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Junior Kamren James drew a one-out walk and Hines followed with a single. Tanner brought James home with an RBI single up the middle.

Groff was walked to begin the bottom of the first inning. A strikeout followed before Lee homered to left field to give Tulane a 2-1 lead.

The Bulldogs answered with six runs in the top of the second inning to regain the lead at 7-2. Sophomore Kellum Clark drew a leadoff walk and scored on Yeager’s RBI double down the left-field line. After a groundout, Hancock drew a walk and James singled through the right side to score Yeager. Hines was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tanner cleared the bases with a grand slam.

Clark added one to MSU’s lead in the top of the third inning with a leadoff home run to right-center field. A trio of doubles by Hines, Tanner and senior Brad Cumbest in the top of the fourth inning gave the Bulldogs a 10-2 lead.

In the bottom half of the fourth inning, redshirt sophomore Brennan Lambert hit a one-out double to left field and redshirt sophomore Simon Baumgardt hit a two-out double to left-center field to make it a 10-3 ballgame.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh inning. Graduate student Trevor Minder doubled down the left-field line and Groff was hit by a pitch. Morrow then singled to load the bases. Lee’s RBI single scored Minder before Marget cleared the bases with a pinch-hit home run to right-center field to make it 10-8.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Marget and redshirt sophomore Brennan Lambert both drew walks after Lee grounded out to open the inning. Sophomore Chase Engelhard was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Baumgardt than lifted a fly ball deep to right. Marget tagged and scored from third base, while freshman Gavin Schulz, who came in to pinch run, tagged up from second and scored to tie things up at 10-10.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the top of the 10th inning, but Cumbest struck out to end the inning. In the bottom half, Groff hit a walk-off home run to give the Green Wave an 11-10 win.

MSU and Tulane will play again Sunday at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN+ to decide the series.