Mississippi State Baseball Tames Tigers in Game 1
In Game 1 against the Tigers, the Mississippi State Bulldogs came alive offensively scoring 13 runs on 20 hits. Mississippi State won the game 13-4 against Mizzou, as the Diamond Dawgs look to win an important series in Columbia.
RJ Yeager had an outstanding performance going 3-for-6 with 5 RBI and two home runs. With this performance, Yeager also broke his career-high for home runs. Kellum Clark brought home three runs for State, including a home run in the eighth inning. At the plate, all Bulldogs starters hit the ball.
On the mound, Brandon Smith started Friday's game against Missouri. Smith went 7.1 innings and finished the game with eight total strikeouts.
The Diamond Dawgs started the game off hot in the top of the first inning as Yeager hit a solo homer to left field, getting Mississippi State on the board early. Brandon Smith did his work on the mound and the first inning ended with the score at 1-0 in favor of MSU.
In the top of the second inning, the Bulldogs increased their lead to two runs as Yeager recorded an RBI double to make the score 2-0 State. Smith went to work on the mound recording his second strikeout, and the Bulldogs ended the second inning with a double play.
During the fourth inning, the Bulldogs continued their success swinging the bat. James led Mississippi State off with a double, and Lane Forsythe followed up with an RBI single. Yeager stayed hot hitting a two-run home run to break his college career record for home runs.
Smith also continued to be successful against the Tigers on the mound. In the fourth inning, Smith recorded two more strikeouts making it six total for him in the game. The Diamond Dawgs went into the fifth inning up 5-0 against Mizzou.
In the fifth inning, Hunter Hines led off the Bulldogs with a single. At this point, the lead-off man for MSU reached on base in four of five innings played. The Diamond Dawgs added four more runs in the inning making the score 9-0. However, Missouri got on the board with a solo home run in the fifth, which made the score 9-1 heading into the sixth.
After two lead-off singles, Kellum Clark increased the Bulldogs lead to 11-1 with a two-RBI double. Smith continued his impressive outing against Missouri, recording his eighth strikeout of the game.
The Diamond Dawgs extended the lead to 13-1 after Clark and James hit back-to-back solo home runs in the eighth. Smith gave up a solo home run in the eighth to make the score 13-2. The Tigers followed the solo home run with a single, and with that Drew Talley came in to relieve Smith. Missouri added two more in the final two innings, but Talley finished the game out for the Bulldogs, as State secured game one from Columbia by a score of 13-4.
Mississippi State baseball plays the Missouri Tigers in game two Saturday. First pitch is set for 2 PM CT and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.