Ole Miss baseball once again loses a late lead as Mississippi State levels the SEC series
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS | Ole Miss baseball dropped game two of their series with Mississippi State Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs walked it off in the ninth inning.
Ole Miss (20-15, 3-11 SEC) had the opportunity for its first SEC series win this season but instead what happened is what has happened the first four weekends of conference play instead. The Bulldogs rallied for a second straight time in the game to level the series at a win a piece.
Sunday’s rubber match will take place at 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+ where the Rebels will have its second chance of the weekend to take the series and continuing trying to turn their season around.
Anthony Calarco went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in the loss. Jacob Gonzalez also knocked in two runs while going 2-for-4.
For the second game in a row, the Rebels struck first, this time in the second inning. Calarco led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a groundout. Will Furniss singled up the middle to bring Calarco home and would move to second on a single by Peyton Chatagnier.
A fielding error by the Bulldog shortstop allowed Furniss to score from second base as Ole Miss took a 2-0 lead.
Mississippi State (21-15, 4-10 SEC) answered in the bottom of the inning with two runs of their own on a double and a sacrifice fly to center field.
Xavier Rivas got the start on the mound for the Rebels and after running into a spot of trouble in the second inning, really settled in in the middle innings. He would end up retiring 12 Bulldogs in a row from the second inning to the sixth and had allowed just two hits.
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Calarco hit an opposite-field solo home run in the top of the fifth inning to give the Rebels the lead back at 3-2. It was his fourth of the year and second in four games.
In the top of the sixth, TJ McCants tripled with two outs in the inning to spark a two-run rally for Ole Miss. Ethan Groff brought McCants home with an infield single, moved to second base on an error, and came home to score on a Gonzalez double to make it 5-2 Rebels.
Ole Miss could never put its in-state rival away as the Bulldogs continued to rally back all game.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mississippi State hit back-to-back home runs off Rivas to end his outing and cut the Ole Miss lead to one. Brayden Jones was the first man out of the bullpen and was able to work his way out of the sixth without any more damage done.
The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game in the seventh inning with another home run, this time a two-RBI shot to right field.
Neither team scored in the eighth and the Rebels came to bat in the ninth down one run. Groff opened the inning with a double and would score on the next pitch as Gonzalez hit a double to right field to tie the game. Calvin Harris moved him to third with a flyout to left field and Calarco brought him home with a single that went off the first base bag to make it 7-6 Ole Miss.
Now down to their final three outs, Mississippi State played small ball to set themselves up for the walk-off win. They drew three walks to load the bases and Dakota Jordan hit a two-RBI single through the left side to win the game 8-7.
