Mississippi State Baseball Drops the Series Finale to Alabama 10-5

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State Bulldogs lost the series finale to the Crimson Tide 10-5. Alabama got off to a hot start, like they did in game two, off Bulldog starter Brooks Auger. 

Auger had pitched well in his previous two starts but only lasted two innings today. Crimson Tide second baseman Max Grant hit a three-run home run to give Alabama a 4-0 lead. 

MSU head coach Chris Lemonis spoke on his start. 

“He just was not good; he has been really good for us lately, just was not a good outing," Lemonis said. 

Logan Kohler put MSU on the board in the second with his second home run in as many days. Cole Cheatham took over for Auger to start the third inning, and the lefty was impressive for two innings. 

However, he ran into trouble in the fifth after losing control and a costly error by Kohler. Cheatham pitched 2.1 innings and gave up three runs. 

Luke Dotson came in to relieve Cheatham and got a pair of strikeouts to keep the Crimson Tide lead at 7-1. Dotson gave up another run in the sixth as Mac Guscette grounded an RBI single into left field. 

The Bulldog offense went quiet from the third inning until finally, Connor Hujsak hit a 472-foot home run to left field to get State back on the board. Kohler followed that up with his second home run of the day, which nearly went over the batter's eye in center field. 

“He (Kohler) has always had that power,” Lemonis said. “He is swinging it well right.” 

The Crimson Tide would get a run back in the eight off of Karson Ligon, who gave up back-to-back singles, and Kade Snell would drive home a run with a sacrifice fly. 

State would mount a rally in the eighth after an RBI double from Dakota Jordan and an RBI single from Hujsak. The game went into a weather delay as Amani Larry was coming to the plate. 

Larry worked a walk after a 35-minute delay, but Kohler struck out to end the threat. Bryce Eblin hit a solo home run in the ninth to extend the Alabama lead to 10-5. 

The Bulldogs could not recover from a five-run deficit and dropped the series finale. State needed a series win, and they got it, but a sweep would have given them more breathing room in their pursuit of hosting a regional. 

“(I was) Disappointed,” Lemonis said. “Did not show up, locked in, ready to go.”

They travel to Arkansas next week for a three-game series.