Video: The Comeback Dawgs Win Series Over #15 Texas A&M

Video Courtesy: KBTX

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Miss. St. Athletics) – Mississippi State rallied with three runs in the seventh inning to win another Southeastern Conference series.

The seventh-ranked Bulldogs worked some Saturday afternoon magic to knock off No. 15 Texas A&M 4-3 in the final game of a three-game weekend series at Blue Bell Park.

MSU won its sixth conference series in eight tries this season. The Bulldogs did it for a second time by winning the final two games in a series. MSU also took back over first place in the conference standings.

MSU is 32-17 overall and 16-8 in league play, while Texas A&M fell to 34-15 and 14-10.

“I am proud of how well we competed in the final two games,” head coach Andy Cannizaro said. “We didn’t play well Thursday but we came back and showed a lot of fight. We played very well the final 18 innings in the series. We just kept getting better at-bats. Our guys really rose to the occasion and found a way to win the final game of a series on the road in a hostile environment.”

Riley Self (5-0) threw the final 3.1 innings to earn the win. Self retired the final seven batters he faced and overall allowed no hits with three strikeouts. Jacob Billingsley threw the first four innings. Trey Jolly and Trysten Barlow also pitched. The Bulldogs allowed five total hits with eight strikeouts.

“Riley was incredible on the back end of the game,” Cannizaro said. “He was in control with some great movement and really did a great job of closing out that win. We got a lot of good work from several pitchers all weekend against a great hitting team.”

MSU finished with seven hits, including five from the final two spots in the lineup. Josh Lovelady had three hits and Tanner Poole had two hits. Elijah MacNamee also had two hits. The Bulldogs stranded five base runners.

Down 2-0, the Bulldogs got on the board in the sixth inning when Lovelady singled, Poole doubled, and a ground ball out scored a run.

The Bulldogs then erased a 3-1 deficit with three scores in the seventh inning. Lovelady and Poole had back-to-back run-producing hits. A wild pitch scored the eventual game-winning run.

Mitchell Kilkenny (3-2) took the loss in relief for Texas A&M.