Mississippi State Baseball Advances in SEC Tournament with a 5-3 Win

The Bulldogs use clutch hits to knock off the Aggies.

David Mershon / Mississippi State Athletics

The Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Texas A&M Aggies 5-3 in the second round of the SEC tournament. The Bulldog offense started out much better tonight as a pair of one-out hits from Amani Larry and Logan Kohler put two runners in scoring position with one out. 

Catcher Joe Powell struck out for the second out, but Larry would score on a wild pitch to give State a 1-0 lead. Junior Bryce Chance would start the third with a single into center field, and shortstop David Mershon followed that up with a home run to left field to give State a 3-0 lead. 

The Aggies threatened in the third, loading the bases with just one out. However, State would escape the inning with minimal damage, as Texas A&M only plated a run. 

Khal Stephen drew the start for MSU and pitched well for five innings. However, he ran into trouble in the sixth after issuing a leadoff walk and giving up a single. 

The Aggies had runners on the corners with no outs, and State brought in Tyson Hardin, who gave up an RBI sacrifice fly and double, which tied the game. The final line for Stephen is 5+ innings pitched, three hits, three earned runs, and four strikeouts. 

Nate Dohm took over on the mound for State to start the eighth and worked a perfect inning. The Indiana native also worked around a two-out double in the eighth to throw up another zero. 

In the ninth, Chance and Mershon were hit by pitch, and Hunter Hines reached on an error to load the bases with one out. Dakota Jordan popped out for the second out, but once again, Connor Hujsak came up clutch with a two-RBI single to give State a 5-3 lead. 

Tyler Davis came in to close it out and worked a perfect inning. The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow at approximately 8 p.m. CT against Vanderbilt.