MSU Baseball Knocks Off No. 1 Texas A&M

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI / MSU Athletics) – The Mississippi State baseball team upset No. 1 Texas A&M 3-2 on the road Saturday behind strong pitching and timely hitting.

It was a dominant outing from Preston Brown and Trevor Fitts the propelled MSU in game two of the Southeastern Conference series at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas.

With the win, MSU improved to 22-15 overall and 6-8 in league play, while Texas A&M fell to 32-3 and 10-3. It was MSU’s first regular-season triumph against a top-ranked team since a 2004 road win at LSU.

“The kids did a great job today,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “It starts with the pitching part of it. Preston really gave us a great start. Trevor them came in there at the end and rammed the ball in the strike zone. When you fill the strike zone, it puts pressure on the other team, especially when they are behind.

“For the most part, we defended it well and got some timely hits. We had four outstanding plays in the outfield and that really helped save the win.”

Brown (5-3) pitched seven innings, allowing eight hits and one run, with two walks and two strikeouts. The effort gave the Bulldogs’ two quality starts in the series as Brown followed Lucas Laster who pitched well in a 3-1 loss in the Friday series opener.

After Levi Mintz was touched for a leadoff home run in the eighth inning, Fitts entered in relief. He struck out four and faced six total batters to earn his sixth save of the season.

MSU started the scoring in the third inning when Cody Brown hit his first home run of the year. The Bulldogs kept plugging in that at-bat as Jacob Robson singled and later scored on a hit by John Holland.

The Bulldogs increased the lead an inning later when Wes Rea doubled and scored on a hit from Michael Smith.

Texas A&M responded with three hits to score a run in the fourth inning. However, Brown stranded two Aggies and continue to battle through the seventh inning. Logan Taylor would homer for the Aggies in the eighth inning but Fitts relieved Mintz and brought the Bulldogs home.

MSU finished with seven hits, including multi-hit games by Robson and Holland.

Texas A&M finished with nine hits, including a two-hit game by Hunter Melton. Kyle Simonds (2-1) pitched the first five innings and took the loss.

The series finale is at 1:05 p.m. Sunday and will be available nationally on SEC Network +.