No. 24 MSU Falters to No. 7 Tennessee in Series Opener

Friday, May 4

Starkville

6:30 PM

Mississippi State

34-19, 0

#7 Tennessee

43-10, 0

Tennessee

Mississippi State

Senior Morgan Bell opener the series going 3-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate.

No. 24 MSU Falters to No. 7 Tennessee in Series Opener

May 04, 2018 | Softball

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STARKVILLE, Miss. – Scoring three runs over the final two innings, No. 24 Mississippi State (34-19, 6-16 SEC) rallied from behind but the comeback attempt fell short as No. 7 Tennessee (43-10, 13-9) held on for a 7-4 victory to open the series Friday night at Nusz Park.

Morgan Bell kicked off her senior weekend in style as she went 3-for-3 at the plate, plating two of MSU's four runs scored. Junior Emily Heimberger also turned in a multi-hit performance as she went 2-for-4 with two singles.

Freshman Emily Williams (5-1) earned the start, allowing three runs off three walks and a strikeout in the first inning as she was tagged with her first loss of the season. Sophomore Candace Denis tossed 6.2 innings of relief allowing four runs off eight hits and four walks. Denis struck out three in the contest.

Tennessee scored three runs in the first with help of a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single by Ashley Morgan. UT would use a couple singles in the top of the second to manufacture its fourth run of the game before taking advantage of an MSU error in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead.

Mississippi State responded in the home half of the fifth with back-to-back singles by redshirt junior Bevia Robinson and Heimberger to lead off the inning. Freshman Mia Davidson smoked a ball up the middle to cut the UT lead to 5-1.

Tennessee pushed its lead back up to six runs in the sixth with RBI singles by Meghan Gregg and Scarlet McSwain, but the Bulldogs responded once again in the sixth as Bell knocked a solo home run to spark a rally. After back-to-back walks to senior Carmen Carter and Robinson, Heimberger singled to center to plate the second MSU run of the game. Davidson would load the bases with a hit by pitch, but Tennessee got out of the jam with a strike out to retire the side.

MSU would mount a seven-inning rally attempt as senior Reggie Harrison led of the with hit by pitch before junior Sarai Niu doubled to right to put two runners in scoring position. Bell would knock a sacrifice fly to center to cut UT's lead to 7-4, but the Bulldogs couldn't bring anything else across to drop the series opener.

TENNESSEE SERIES SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Friday, May 4 - No.7 Tennessee def. No. 24 Mississippi State, 7-4
Saturday, May 5 - No. 7 Tennessee vs. No. 24 Mississippi State (1 p.m. CT)
Sunday, May 6 - No. 7 Tennessee vs. No. 24 Mississippi State (1 p.m. CT)

WATCH LIVE
The final two games of the series will be streamed in their entirety on the SEC Network +, which can be access through WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.

Game Two: No. 25 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Tennessee
Game Three: No. 25 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Tennessee

LIVE STATS
Mississippi State will provide live stats for all three games this weekend, which can be access through the links below.

No. 25 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 Tennessee Live Stats

ADMISSION
Admission to this weekend's games at Nusz Park are free.

DUE UP
Mississippi State looks to even the series on Saturday with game two versus the Lady Volunteers. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. CT.

FOLLOW THE DAWGS
For more on Mississippi State softball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap".