Mississippi State baseball beats Jackson State 17-2 ahead of road series at Ole Miss

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State baseball team cruised to a 17-2 seven-inning win over Jackson State on Tuesday at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs (22-16, 6-9 SEC) scored one run in the first inning, five in the second, two in the fourth, five in the fifth and four in the sixth. The Tigers (18-19, 6-9 SWAC) scored both their runs in the fifth inning.

The MSU offense cranked out 10 hits, with two Bulldogs recording multiple hits. Graduate student RJ Yeager was 2-for-4, including a grand slam, and accounted for six RBIs and three runs. Junior Kamren James finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs.

The Bulldog pitching staff limited the Tigers to three total hits. Junior Ty Hill was 1-for-3 with a two-run home run, senior Devontae Rhodes was 1-for-2 with one run and junior Caleb Evans was 1-for-3.

Freshman pitcher Jack Walker (1-0) started for the Bulldogs and earned the win after tossing three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking four batters. Senior Andrew Walling then pitched the fourth inning and struck out one batter and walked two. Sophomore Lane Forsythe surrendered two runs in an inning pitched before sophomores Mikey Tepper and Jackson Fristoe pitched the final two innings.

Senior Nick Johnson (0-2) was charged with the loss for Jackson State after allowing four runs on three hits with one strikeout and one walk in 1 ¹⁄₃ innings. Five pitchers followed Johnson to allow a combined 13 runs on seven hits.

MSU took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a solo home run by James. The Bulldogs added five runs to its lead in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Hunter Hines led off with a double to right-center field and advanced to third on freshman Slate Alford’s single. Senior Brad Cumbest’s sacrifice fly scored Hines before an RBI single by senior Tanner Leggett scored Alford. Yeager’s double down the left-field line brought in two more runs before a bases-loaded walk made it a 6-0 ballgame.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Cumbest was walked to begin things before he stole second. He scored on a double by James, and James advanced to third on a balk. Senior Luke Hancock followed with an RBI single down the right-field line to increase MSU’s lead to 8-0.

In the top of the fifth inning, Forsythe walked Rhodes to begin the inning. Hill then followed with a home run to left field to end the shutout at 8-2.

Hines and Alford drew back-to-back walks in the bottom of the fifth inning before sophomore Kellum Clark’s single through the right side loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly scored a run before Yeager drew a two-out walk to reload the bases. James scored two more runs with a two-RBI double before a fielding error allowed two more runners to cross home plate to give the Bulldogs a 13-2 lead,

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jackson State sophomore pitcher Angel Escudero walked sophomore Davis Meche, junior Matt Corder and graduate student Jess Davis to load the bases. A strikeout followed before Yeager cleared the bases with a grand slam to left field to end the game’s scoring at 17-2.

The Bulldogs will look to ride the momentum heading into a three-game Southeastern Conference road series against rival Ole Miss beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. CT at Swayze Field on SEC Network. The series will continue Friday at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+ before concluding with a 3:30 p.m. first pitch on Saturday on ESPN2.