Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State’s Bats Shut Down Late in 7-3 Loss

Bulldogs held hitless after Paige Cook’s three-run fourth inning homer

Taylor Hodges

Mississippi State Athletics

STARKVILLE – On Friday, No. 16 Mississippi State won dominantly. On Saturday, No. 4 Tennessee won dominantly. Sunday’s series finale between the Bulldogs and Lady Vols gave the record-setting crowd at Nusz Park a much closer and tightly fought game.

In the end, it was Tennessee who left Starkville with a 7-3 victory.

Both teams used their top two pitchers in the contest. MSU started with Aspen Wesley inside the circle and Josey Marron relieved her in the third inning. Wesley (11-4) allowed five runs on four hits, a walk and two strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work. Marron pitched the remainder of the game and allowed just two runs on four hits and five strikeouts.

Tennessee began the game with Karlyn Pickens, who lost Friday’s game, and replaced her with Payton Gottshall, who held the Bulldogs to only three hits in Saturday’s win.

The Bulldogs did their damage against Pickens.

Trailing 5-0 in the fourth inning, Paige Cook blasted a three-run homer to cut the lead to 5-3 and Gottshall came in to relieve Pickens. MSU wouldn’t record another base hit for the remainder of the game. Gottshall allowed just one walk and struck out six batters.

The Lady Vols answered Cook’s home run in the fifth inning with Zaida Puni’s second home run of the day that extended their lead to 6-3. Tennessee nearly had another solo home run in the inning, but Brylie St. Clair made a leaping catch at the left field wall to rob the homer and end the inning.

Sophia Nugent capped off the scoring with an RBI single in the seventh inning and gave Tennessee a 7-3 victory.

MSU will take a break from SEC action next weekend, but will play a pair of midweek games at home. The Bulldogs host Memphis (4-32, 1-16 AAC) at 5 p.m. Tuesday and then host South Alabama (22-15-1, 8-6 Sun Belt Conference) the following day. Wednesday’s game will air on SEC Network+.

Published
Taylor Hodges

TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.