Sunday, April 7
Knoxville, Tenn.
1:00 PM
Mississippi State
27-6, 7-5
7
at
5
Tennessee
23-10, 4-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Mississippi State
0
0
1
2
1
2
0
1
0
7
13
1
Tennessee
2
0
1
0
0
2
0
0
0
5
9
0
Baseball Takes Series at Tennessee with Sunday Victory
April 07, 2019 | Baseball
Allen, Rowdey Jordan hit home runs, Liebelt throws final three scoreless to earn the save
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program saw its bullpen shoulder the load in the series finale at Tennessee, as the Bulldogs got eight innings of work out of three relievers to earn a 7-5 victory over the Vols on Sunday (April 7) to claim the Southeastern Conference series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Tennessee (23-10, 4-8 SEC) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against MSU (27-6, 7-5 SEC) freshman starting pitcher JT Ginn, before each team scored one run in the third. State scored two in the fourth to tie the game, before it plated one in the fifth and two in the sixth to grab a 6-3 lead. Tennessee plated two runs in the sixth inning, but MSU added one in the eighth to cap the scoring at 7-5.
The State bullpen tossed eight innings in the series-clinching win, with redshirt-junior Keegan James (3-1) picking up the win and senior Jared Liebelt collecting his third save of the year.
James tossed three innings and allowed one run on one hit, while hitting two batters. Redshirt-junior Trysten Barlow allowed two runs on three hits and struck out two in two innings of work, while Liebelt threw the final three innings scoreless with two strikeouts.
State got multi-hit games from five different student-athletes, led by three-hit outings from sophomores Tanner Allen (3-for-5) and Rowdey Jordan (3-for-4), with each hitting a home run. Senior Elijah MacNamee, along with sophomores Justin Foscue and Jordan Westburg, each chipped in two hits apiece.
MacNamee's two hits moved his reached-base streak to 28 games and his hitting streak to 10, while senior Jake Mangum had one hit to move his hitting streak to 13 games. Junior Dustin Skelton saw his hitting streak come to an end, but reached base twice via hit-by-pitch to move his on-base streak to 17-straight games.
State has now won three of its first four SEC series, including a pair of road series wins.
Quotable
Head Coach Chris Lemonis
On Tanner Allen getting a couple of hits
"We are really good [offensively] right now, but we can be special at the plate if [Tanner] gets going. Rowdey [Jordan] also had a couple of big hits, too. Those two left-handed bats are huge for us moving forward."
On the decision to stick with Jared Liebelt in the ninth
"Having a guy that is already hot and out there in the flow of the game, and with the wind blowing out, [Jared] Liebelt is really good at getting ground balls. All of his stuff has sink, so we felt like we would let him go finish it out."
Quick Hitters
Mississippi State
Rowdey Jordan – Hit his second home run of the season as part of a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Scored twice and plated one RBI.
'Pen For The Win – The bullpen tossed eight innings and allowed three runs on six hits. Three relievers struck out five and didn't walk a batter.
Tanner Allen – Posted a three-hit game that included his fifth home run of the season.
Elijah MacNamee – Moved his reached base streak to 28 games with a pair of hits. Scored a run and drove in one RBI.
Keegan James – Entered in the second inning and fired three innings of one-run relief to earn his third win of the year. Struck out one, allowed one hit and hit two batters.
Tennessee
Alerick Soulaire – Went 4-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI.
Zach Daniels – Pinch hit and hit a two-run home run.
Scoring Recap
Bottom One
Tennessee got a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning against MSU starting pitcher JT Ginn. Justin Ammons singled and stole second base, before coming in to score on an Andre Lipcius double with one out. Alerick Soulaire singed to put runners on the corners, before a Pete Derkay ground out accounted for the second run of the frame.
Tennessee 2, Mississippi State 0
Top Third
Rowdey Jordan hit his second home run of the season to right field to lead off the third inning and get State on the scoreboard.
Tennessee 2, Mississippi State 1
Bottom Third
After retiring the first batter of the inning, MSU reliever Keegan James hit the next two batters, before Soulaire singled for the second time in the game to push UT's lead back to two runs. James cut a runner down at home and made the final play of the inning to record the out and limit the damage.
Tennessee 3, Mississippi State 1
Top Fourth
The first three batters reached base for MSU, as Jordan Westburg and Tanner Allen started the inning with base hits. Elijah MacNamee then dumped a single into center field to score Westburg, but Allen was thrown out going to third. After a flyout for the second out of the frame, Dustin Skelton was hit by a pitch and Rowdey Jordan singled on a ball that hit the UT pitcher to load the bases. Tennessee brought in a reliever and Marshall Gilbert drew a walk to knot the score at three.
Mississippi State 3, Tennessee 3
Top Fifth
Allen hit his fifth home run of the season with two outs in the inning to give MSU its first lead of the game.
Mississippi State 4, Tennessee 3
Top Sixth
Skelton started the inning with his second hit-by-pitch of the game and Brad Cumbest was hit by a pitch with two outs. Jake Mangum followed with a double down the left-field line to score both runs and push MSU's lead to three runs.
Mississippi State 6, Tennessee 3
Bottom Sixth
Soularie doubled to start the inning and pinch hitter Zach Daniels hit a two-run home run to left field against Trysten Barlow, who was in his second inning of work. An error and a single followed, before Barlow was able to get out of the inning with a ground out, cut a runner down at third and struck out the final batter to preserve the lead.
Mississippi State 6, Tennessee 5
Top Eighth
A leadoff double from Rowdey Jordan was followed by a Gunner Halter sacrifice bunt and a Cumbest sacrifice fly to add one insurance run.
Mississippi State 7, Tennessee 5
Up Next
Mississippi State will begin a five-game homestand with a $2 midweek contest against South Alabama on Wednesday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. The Bulldogs will then welcome Alabama for a three-game series, beginning with a 6:30 first pitch on Friday, April 12.
Tennessee (23-10, 4-8 SEC) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against MSU (27-6, 7-5 SEC) freshman starting pitcher JT Ginn, before each team scored one run in the third. State scored two in the fourth to tie the game, before it plated one in the fifth and two in the sixth to grab a 6-3 lead. Tennessee plated two runs in the sixth inning, but MSU added one in the eighth to cap the scoring at 7-5.
The State bullpen tossed eight innings in the series-clinching win, with redshirt-junior Keegan James (3-1) picking up the win and senior Jared Liebelt collecting his third save of the year.
James tossed three innings and allowed one run on one hit, while hitting two batters. Redshirt-junior Trysten Barlow allowed two runs on three hits and struck out two in two innings of work, while Liebelt threw the final three innings scoreless with two strikeouts.
State got multi-hit games from five different student-athletes, led by three-hit outings from sophomores Tanner Allen (3-for-5) and Rowdey Jordan (3-for-4), with each hitting a home run. Senior Elijah MacNamee, along with sophomores Justin Foscue and Jordan Westburg, each chipped in two hits apiece.
MacNamee's two hits moved his reached-base streak to 28 games and his hitting streak to 10, while senior Jake Mangum had one hit to move his hitting streak to 13 games. Junior Dustin Skelton saw his hitting streak come to an end, but reached base twice via hit-by-pitch to move his on-base streak to 17-straight games.
State has now won three of its first four SEC series, including a pair of road series wins.
Quotable
Head Coach Chris Lemonis
On Tanner Allen getting a couple of hits
"We are really good [offensively] right now, but we can be special at the plate if [Tanner] gets going. Rowdey [Jordan] also had a couple of big hits, too. Those two left-handed bats are huge for us moving forward."
On the decision to stick with Jared Liebelt in the ninth
"Having a guy that is already hot and out there in the flow of the game, and with the wind blowing out, [Jared] Liebelt is really good at getting ground balls. All of his stuff has sink, so we felt like we would let him go finish it out."
Quick Hitters
Mississippi State
Rowdey Jordan – Hit his second home run of the season as part of a 3-for-4 day at the plate. Scored twice and plated one RBI.
'Pen For The Win – The bullpen tossed eight innings and allowed three runs on six hits. Three relievers struck out five and didn't walk a batter.
Tanner Allen – Posted a three-hit game that included his fifth home run of the season.
Elijah MacNamee – Moved his reached base streak to 28 games with a pair of hits. Scored a run and drove in one RBI.
Keegan James – Entered in the second inning and fired three innings of one-run relief to earn his third win of the year. Struck out one, allowed one hit and hit two batters.
Tennessee
Alerick Soulaire – Went 4-for-4 with a run scored and one RBI.
Zach Daniels – Pinch hit and hit a two-run home run.
Scoring Recap
Bottom One
Tennessee got a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning against MSU starting pitcher JT Ginn. Justin Ammons singled and stole second base, before coming in to score on an Andre Lipcius double with one out. Alerick Soulaire singed to put runners on the corners, before a Pete Derkay ground out accounted for the second run of the frame.
Tennessee 2, Mississippi State 0
Top Third
Rowdey Jordan hit his second home run of the season to right field to lead off the third inning and get State on the scoreboard.
Tennessee 2, Mississippi State 1
Bottom Third
After retiring the first batter of the inning, MSU reliever Keegan James hit the next two batters, before Soulaire singled for the second time in the game to push UT's lead back to two runs. James cut a runner down at home and made the final play of the inning to record the out and limit the damage.
Tennessee 3, Mississippi State 1
Top Fourth
The first three batters reached base for MSU, as Jordan Westburg and Tanner Allen started the inning with base hits. Elijah MacNamee then dumped a single into center field to score Westburg, but Allen was thrown out going to third. After a flyout for the second out of the frame, Dustin Skelton was hit by a pitch and Rowdey Jordan singled on a ball that hit the UT pitcher to load the bases. Tennessee brought in a reliever and Marshall Gilbert drew a walk to knot the score at three.
Mississippi State 3, Tennessee 3
Top Fifth
Allen hit his fifth home run of the season with two outs in the inning to give MSU its first lead of the game.
Mississippi State 4, Tennessee 3
Top Sixth
Skelton started the inning with his second hit-by-pitch of the game and Brad Cumbest was hit by a pitch with two outs. Jake Mangum followed with a double down the left-field line to score both runs and push MSU's lead to three runs.
Mississippi State 6, Tennessee 3
Bottom Sixth
Soularie doubled to start the inning and pinch hitter Zach Daniels hit a two-run home run to left field against Trysten Barlow, who was in his second inning of work. An error and a single followed, before Barlow was able to get out of the inning with a ground out, cut a runner down at third and struck out the final batter to preserve the lead.
Mississippi State 6, Tennessee 5
Top Eighth
A leadoff double from Rowdey Jordan was followed by a Gunner Halter sacrifice bunt and a Cumbest sacrifice fly to add one insurance run.
Mississippi State 7, Tennessee 5
Up Next
Mississippi State will begin a five-game homestand with a $2 midweek contest against South Alabama on Wednesday, April 10 at 6:30 p.m. The Bulldogs will then welcome Alabama for a three-game series, beginning with a 6:30 first pitch on Friday, April 12.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: James, Keegan (3-1)
L: Will Heflin (3-1)
S: Liebelt, Jared (3)
Batting:
2B: Mangum, Jake 1 ; MacNamee, Elijah 1 ; Jordan, Rowdey 1
HR: Allen, Tanner 1 ; Jordan, Rowdey 1
RBI: Mangum, Jake 2 ; Allen, Tanner 1 ; MacNamee, Elijah 1 ; Jordan, Rowdey 1 ; Gilbert, Marshall 1 ; Cumbest, Brad 1
SH: Halter, Gunner 1
SF: Cumbest, Brad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Westburg, Jordan 1 ; Allen, Tanner 1 ; MacNamee, Elijah 1 ; Skelton, Dustin 1 ; Jordan, Rowdey 2 ; Cumbest, Brad 1
HBP: Skelton, Dustin 2 ; Cumbest, Brad 1
Batting:
2B: Andre Lipcius 1 ; Alerick Soularie 1
HR: Zach Daniels 1
RBI: Andre Lipcius 1 ; Alerick Soularie 1 ; Pete Derkay 1 ; Zach Daniels 2
SH: Jake Rucker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Justin Ammons 1 ; Jay Charleston 1 ; Andre Lipcius 1 ; Alerick Soularie 1 ; Zach Daniels 1
SB: Justin Ammons 1
HBP: Jay Charleston 1 ; Andre Lipcius 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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