Mississippi State Baseball Falls Hard in 8-1 Loss to Arkansas in Game 1 of Series

The Bulldogs were blown out in Game 1 of their weekend series against Arkansas.

Mississippi State baseball had a difficult night on the field, at the plate and on the mound in Friday night's 8-1 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. 

Logan Tanner went 2-for-4 at the plate with one run scored and one RBI on a solo home run. RJ Yeager and Kellum Clark each had a hit of their own. Starting pitcher Preston Johnson pitched four innings and gave up seven runs on seven hits while walking five and striking out seven. Drew Talley had the best all-around performance for the Bulldogs with only one run on one hit with two outs and one strikeout in 2.1 innings of work. Overall, the MSU pitching staff gave up 11 walks on the night and struck out only nine. 

The Diamond Dawgs didn't let an error by Tanner Leggett and a walk affect them in the first inning, but they could not get much going offensively either. Tanner had a no-out single and Clark reached on a fielder's choice to become the only two base runners in the first two innings.

Arkansas blew things open in the bottom of the second inning. A two-run home run by Jalen Battles after a walked batter quickly made the score 2-0. Leggett's second error of the night allowed a runner to reach second with two outs. Another walk was issued by Johnson, then the Razorbacks drove in four more runs on two singles and a triple. With the early 6-0 deficit, the Bulldogs desperately needed to pull things together. 

Yeager had a single to start the third inning, but nothing came of it. Battles had his second home run of the game to push Arkansas ahead 7-0. 

Tanner cut into the Razorbacks' lead with a high-flying home run in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 7-1. It was his third home run in as many games and gave Mississippi State a glimmer of hope with nearly half of the game left to play. Arkansas threatened in the bottom of the inning, but Johnson was able to escape with two consecutive strikeouts to leave the bases loaded.

After another quiet inning for the Diamond Dawgs offensively, Cole Cheatham was brought in to pitch for Johnson in the top of the bottom of the fifth inning. Cheathem held the Razorbacks scoreless for the fifth inning before issuing three consecutive two-out walks in the sixth and being taken out in favor of Drew Talley. Talley got his team out of the inning without allowing any more damage. 

Clark singled to left field and stole second in the seventh inning, but that was all that the Bulldogs could manage to do once again. Talley gave up a leadoff double to start the frame, and that baserunner eventually made it home on a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. That was the only run that Talley gave up in the game. 

Neither team was able to score in the eighth inning, and it all came down to Mississippi State needing to put up six runs in the ninth to stay alive. The Razorbacks went 1-2-3 on defense to finish things quickly and hand the Diamond Dawgs the 8-1 loss. 

Mississippi State will face off against Arkansas for the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.