Mississippi State’s Offense Shut Down in Prime Time Loss to Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A long baseball game on SEC Network kept No. 18 Mississippi State from showcasing its talent for the first three innings of its game against No. 14 Missouri. But so did Missouri pitcher Laurin Krings.

Krings held the high-powered Bulldog (30-15, 9-10 SEC) offense to only three hits and one walks while striking out five batters in a complete-game shutout performance that saw Missouri (35-13, 8-10 SEC) celebrate a 4-0 victory. Naida Barbary, Paige Cook and Kylie Edwards were the only MSU batters to record a hit and Madisyn Kennedy drew the lone walk.

Saturday night’s game was the first SEC game in two weeks for the Bulldogs, but it’s also MSU’s third-straight loss. MSU is 1-2 since losing its series against No. 3 Tennessee and lost 2-0 to South Alabama on April 17 and 3-2 to Samford this past Wednesday.

Missouri’s Abby Hay, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, accounted for three of Missouri’s four runs against MSU pitcher Aspen Wesley.

Wesley (11-5) pitched a solid game herself, striking out seven batters and leaving seven runners stranded on base in six innings of work. Only two of the four runs allowed were earned runs.

Following a controversial hit-by-pitch call, Hay gave Missouri a 2-0 lead in the first inning when MSU left fielder Brylie St. Clair misplayed a fly ball that allowed the runner at second base to score.

Hay later drove in a run in the fifth inning on a fielder’s choice in the fifth and Jenna Laird capped off the scoring with RBI double to center field.

The Bulldogs will continue their series against Missouri at 6 p.m. Sunday. The series will conclude with Mic’d Up Monday on the SEC Network, starting at 6 p.m.