Diamond Dawgs Fall Apart in Midweek Contest Against Southern Miss

Mississippi State couldn't control itself on either side of the plate against the Golden Eagles and fell 7-1 to an in-state rival.

The bats were freezing, the pitches were off and Mississippi State lost to Southern Miss by a score of 7-1 on Wednesday night at Trustmark Park in Pearl. 

The loss snapped the Diamond Dawgs' three-game winning streak and put the team at 5-4 on the season-- an ominous start for the defending National Champs. Mississippi State struck out at the plate 14 times in 34 at-bats, and the bullpen walked the Golden Eagles seven times. Southern Miss improved to 6-2 in their first ranked matchup of the year. 

Starting pitcher Jackson Fristoe struggled in his second outing of the season, lasting only three innings and giving up four runs on four hits and two walks. Cleanup hitter Logan Tanner had the most success at the plate, going 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Hunter Hines went 2-for-3. 

The first few innings passed quickly, but things began heating up in the third inning. The Golden Eagles struck first with a one-out triple by Gabe Montenegro that scored two and gave the team a big advantage. Southern managed to tack on another run on the very next at-bat, putting Mississippi State in an early 3-0 hole. 

MSU had the chance to respond in the fourth inning, but with the bases loaded and two outs, Aaron Downs struck out. Relief pitcher Pico Kohn threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score and gave up two more runs in the fifth inning on a double that sailed into the outfield. Southern Miss's 6-0 lead looked to be impossible to overcome.

Despite struggling all day, the sixth inning proved to be the most disheartening inning of all for the Diamond Dawgs. James and Hancock reached base with no outs thanks to a pair of singles before Tanner hit into a double play. The bases were loaded again as Hines was hit by a pitch and left fielder Brad Cumbest walked. Unfortunately, Downs struck out with the bases loaded for the second time in the ballgame. 

Reliever Brandon Smith came in and gave up one more run to give USM the 7-0 lead-- the cherry on top of a melting sundae.

Mississippi State's only run of the game came in the top of the eighth inning. Hancock was walked with one out, and a double by Tanner drove him home to erase the goose egg on the scoreboard. That was the only run scored in the inning for either team. 

Speaking with media after the game, Tanner seemed to understand just how dire the upcoming stretch of games will be for the Bulldogs. MSU will travel to Tulane for a weekend series before facing No. 19 Texas Tech the following week for a two-game midweek series. This stretch of five games will be incredibly difficult for the struggling team to make it through unless they improve.

"If we don't want to go down there and get our feelings hurt, we better go down there and play some better baseball."

Mississippi State will take the field against Tulane on Friday in New Orleans starting at 6:30 p.m. CT.