Alabama Baseball Blanked by No. 6 Mississippi State, 7-0

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama baseball's NCAA regional hopes took another hit on Friday as the Crimson Tide fell to the No. 6 Mississippi State Bulldogs 7-0.

While Alabama will still have its first SEC Tournament appearance since 2016 next week in Hoover, its standing in the conference also took a slide with Friday's loss at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. While the Crimson Tide entered the weekend as a No. 7 seed, losses on Thursday and Friday now have Alabama as a No. 9 seed.

The team's ultimate SEC Tournament seeding will be decided on Saturday.

With Dylan Smith on the mound to start for the Crimson Tide, the first inning went by scoreless. However, a solo home run in the top of the second by Bulldogs designated hitter Kamren James put Mississippi State ahead by one.

The Bulldogs added three additional runs in the third, then two more in the fifth — all against Smith.

Opposite Smith was Mississippi State starter Will Bednar, who tossed a gem on the mound. In eight total innings, Bednar allowed no runs off three hits, walked two batters and struck out 11. In 29 batters faced, Bednar threw 112 total pitches. Only one of his three hits allowed went for an extra base.

With Bednar's solid outing on the mound and no runs to be had for the Crimson Tide, the game was never in Alabama's favor and resulted in the 7-0 loss.

Smith finished the game with six runs off eight hits, walked none and struck out three batters in seven and two-thirds innings. While it might not have been the performance that he would have liked on the mound, Smith's three strikeouts were enough to give him 100 on the season — the 10th-most in Alabama program history.

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— Alabama Baseball (@AlabamaBSB) May 22, 2021

Moments before the top of the ninth, Alabama coach Brad Bohannon was ejected from the game after having some choice words for home plate umpire Clint Fagan. Fagan had made some interesting calls in favor of the Bulldogs on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, and Bohannon decided it was time to express his true feelings.

Fagan made the ejection call, and Bohannon spiked his helmet onto the ground. He soon headed to the dugout, but not before hurling his helmet once again in the dugout. The ejection was Bohannon's first of the season.

"I don't think there's ever a reason to act like that," Bohannon said after the game to Roger Hoover of Crimson Tide Sports Network. "Certainly not something that I'm proud of. I think there are some fabulous restaurants in Tuscaloosa and maybe [Fagan] didn't like some of my recommendations."

Bohannon's ejection did nothing to affect the momentum of the game, and Smith (1-7) was saddled with the loss for Alabama while Bednar (6-1) was credited with the win for Mississippi State.

Back-to-back losses for the Crimson Tide is the last thing that this team needed heading into the SEC Tournament. With every loss Alabama takes heading into the tournament, the road gets increasingly tough and the odds that the Crimson Tide will be selected for an NCAA regional decrease.

While the odds weren't exactly stacked in Alabama's favor heading into the final weekend of the regular season, a win against the No. 6 team in the country would go a long way in helping the Crimson Tide's chances.

With the loss, Alabama falls to 29-21 overall and is 12-16 in the SEC. With the Crimson Tide just one win short of 30 victories on the season — a highly-coveted win count that would likely increase the team's chances at reaching a regional — Saturday's final game against the Bulldogs will be a crucial one.

Mississippi State is now 39-13 with the victory and is 19-10 in conference play.

The Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs will complete their regular seasons in Saturday's Game 3 in Tuscaloosa (1 p.m. CT, SEC Network+).