Diamond Dawgs drop another SEC series with 7-3 Sunday loss to No. 10 Oklahoma
It was another weekend of missed opportunities for Mississippi State.
After falling into a 7-0 hole on Saturday due to five errors, State battled back before losing a 13-11 game late. The Bulldogs left seven runners stranded in the first five innings Sunday and the No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners made them pay with a rally in the sixth that would lead to a 7-3 win and a series victory.
With consecutive losses, MSU is off to a miserable 1-5 start in SEC play.
“It’s a close game going into the sixth and we start the big inning,” head coach Chris Lemonis said on postgame radio. “We don’t pitch enough to minimize the inning and keep it a close game. That’s their game, bunting and running.”
Diamond Dawgs leave opportunities on the table
State got there on Sunday by missing their chances while Oklahoma fully capitalized on theirs. Through the first two innings, Oklahoma would manufacture runs with good baseball. A leadoff walk to start the game came around to score on a stolen base, flyout and groundout.
In the second, a two-out walk turned into a run thanks to a stolen base and a double making it 2-0.
State’s offense would start to battle back in the third. The Bulldogs had the first three on and Ace Reese scored them with a one-out double. Hunter Hines came through after that with a two-out single and it was a 3-2 State lead. With the bases juiced, however, Joe Powell would strike out swinging and leave three there.
Another opportunity came along in the fifth as State had the bases loaded with one out, but Gatlin Sanders hit into a double play. At that point in the game, State had outhit Oklahoma 7-1 and the number of runners left on base were identical.
“When they turned the double play on Gatlin Sanders, that was a momentum play of the ball game,” Lemonis said. “They made a great double play and it ended up being the play of the game.”
OU made State play for those missed opportunities. The Sooners hit a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fifth and then scored three in the sixth to retake the lead at 6-3. MSU’s offense went silent from there while OU manufactured one more in the eighth for a 7-3 win.
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State outhit the Sooners 8-7 but Oklahoma made the most of their chances. Bulldog pitchers walked five batters and gave up six stolen bases on seven attempts to aid in the destruction Sunday. That ended a 16-for-17 weekend for the Sooners stealing bases.
7-8-9 in the Bulldog order produced the bulk of the offense with Hunter Hines, Nolan Stevens and Gatlin Sanders all getting two hits. Hines had multiple hits in his second-straight game and drove in a run on Sunday. Reese finished 1-for-5 but had two RBI on his double.
Karson Ligon started the game and gave the Bulldogs 5.0 solid innings but he ultimately surrendered four hits and five runs with three walks and a strikeout. Jacob Pruitt was saddled with the loss after surrendering two hits and a walk in the seventh inning.
MSU (15-9, 1-5 SEC) has another tough week ahead. The Bulldogs have to play Samford at home on Tuesday before turning around and playing a three-game series with LSU from Thursday-Saturday. The No. 2 Tigers (22-3, 4-2 SEC) will enter Alex Box Stadium angry after dropping two of three on the road at Texas.
It will be the third-straight series against a top 10 opponent for State.
“It’s the SEC,” Lemonis said. “There’s never anything easy. We’re on the road for a Thursday night game and we have to regroup and try to figure it out.”
