Late Home Run Efforts Give MSU Win Over Alabama

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – Alabama baseball suffered a 9-1 loss to fifth-ranked Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field. With the win, the Bulldogs claim the series victory while the Crimson Tide moves to 23-13 overall, 4-10 in Southeastern Conference play.

“Mississippi State was better than us in every facet of the game today,” said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. “We have to hit, pitch, defend and run the bases better if we want to leave Starkville with a win.”

Two runs in the fourth with one in the fifth gave Mississippi State a 3-0 lead. The Crimson Tide was able to rally back for one in the seventh to cut the deficit to two, but a five-spot in the home half of the seventh and one more in the eighth gave the Bulldogs the series-clinching win on Saturday.

For the second day in a row, the Tide received a solid outing from its starter, and, once again, Alabama’s starter suffered the loss. Brock Love (4-1) was on the losing end of Saturday’s matchup, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks in 4.0-plus frames. The redshirt junior struck out four across his 79 pitches of work. Mississippi State starter Peyton Plumlee (2-2) earned the win with 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball.

Mississippi State was first to score on Saturday, putting up a pair in the bottom of the fourth and adding one more in the fifth to make it a 3-0 affair. Alabama was able to cut the lead to two in the seventh with its first run of the afternoon. T.J. Reeves led things off with a walk and moved into scoring position with a stolen base. A groundout to the left side moved the freshman to third before fellow freshman Tyler Ras came in for a pinch-hit RBI-single to make it a 3-1 game headed to the stretch.

The Bulldogs then scored five in the seventh to put things out of reach at 8-1. Another MSU run came in the eighth on a solo shot to set things at 9-1, the eventual final.

Alabama and Mississippi State wrap up the series on Sunday at Dudy Noble Field with a 3 p.m. CT first pitch on SEC Network. The Crimson Tide will look to junior right-hander Casey Cobb in the start while the Bulldogs send freshman JT Ginn, also a righty, to the hill for the finale.