Tennessee Steals Game 2 from No. 8 Mississippi State Baseball

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — After an extra-inning win on Friday, the No. 8 Mississippi State baseball team dropped a 2-1 contest to Tennessee Saturday evening at Lindsey Nelson Field.

MSU falls to 26-6 and 6-5 in conference play. With the win, the Volunteers improve to 23-9 and 4-7 in conference play.

The contest saw a pitcher’s dual throughout, with the Dawgs collecting just five hits. MSU held Tennessee to just three hits in the game. Senior Jake Mangum, senior Elijah MacNamee, sophomore Justin Foscue, junior Dustin Skelton and senior Marshall Gilbert recorded a hit apiece in the contest.

Senior right-hander Peyton Plumlee (1-2) was charged with the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in 5 ¹⁄₃ innings of work. Juniors Colby White and Jack Eagan both tossed 1 ¹⁄₃ innings of scoreless baseball. White struck out two batters, while Eagan struck out one.

The Diamond Dawgs got on the board first in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. MacNamee hit a one-out single to left center. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch before coming around to score on an RBI single from Foscue.

Tennessee then scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a game-winning 2-1 lead. Freshman Max Ferguson drew a leadoff walk. Freshman Jake Rucker followed the walk with a single to left field to put runners on first and second. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up before an MSU error scored two runs.

Junior right-hander Zach Linginfelter (5-3) pitched 6 ²⁄₃ innings and earned the win. He allowed one run on five hits and struck out three batters. He walked two batters.

The rubber match between State and Tennessee will be Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at Lindsey Nelson Field. The game will be televised by SEC Network.