SEC Tournament Stay Ends

Thursday, May 27

Hoover, Ala. (Hoover Metropolitan Stadium)

9:30 AM

Mississippi State

40-15

#4 Tennessee

43-15

Mississippi State

Tennessee

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

May 27, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Allen pushes hitting streak to career-long 18 games entering NCAA Tournament

By: Greg Campbell, Assistant Director/Communications

HOOVER, Ala. – No. 3 Mississippi State baseball dropped its second game at the SEC Tournament to No. 4 Tennessee on Thursday (May 27) at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium to end its stay at the event. The Diamond Dawgs will now turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament, as the field will be announced on Monday (May 31).

Tennessee (43-15) scored four runs in the second inning to grab an early lead, before Mississippi State (40-15) got on the board with a single run in the third inning. The Volunteers added one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to build an 8-1 lead. After the Diamond Dawgs added one run in the eighth, the Vols scored four in bottom of the inning to end the game.

State had eight hits, two walks and one hit-by-pitch in the game but stranded seven runners on base and hit into two double plays. Tanner Allen pushed his hitting streak to 18 games and reached base streak to 21 games with an RBI single in the third inning. Rowdey Jordan posted his 17th multi-hit game of the season with a 2-for-4 day at the plate after his 38-game reached base streak ended in the tournament opener.

Christian MacLeod (5-4) allowed five runs on five hits with four strikeouts in the loss.

For Tennessee, Chad Dallas (10-1) tossed 6 2/3 innings with one run allowed on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Jordan Beck hit a solo home run and Pete Derkay posted a multi-RBI game thanks to a three-run home run. Liam Spencer added three hits, one runs scored and two RBIs.

Quotable
Head coach Chris Lemonis
On his message to the team after the game
CL: I didn't think we played really tough all week ... Didn't like our body language, didn't like the way we went about our business. Obviously, we got [beat] two games, so it's deflating. I did remind them they didn't win a game in 2018 and in 2019, we got ten-run ruled in our last game, and we went back and got to work and got to where we wanted to be. So, as disappointing as this is, as frustrating, as embarrassing as it is, we still have everything out in front of us. We have the opportunity to go back home and work and get ready for a regional.

Scoring Recap
Bottom Second
A walk and hit-by-pitch came in to score on a two-out, three-run home run by Pete Derkay. Connor Pavolony followed with a double and Liam Spence brought him around to score on a single.
Tennessee 4, Mississippi State 0

Top Third
Brayland Skinner reached on a fielder's choice and eventually came in on a Tanner Allen single.
Tennessee 4, Mississippi State 1

Bottom Fourth
Jordan Beck hit a solo home run to right-center field.
Tennessee 5, Mississippi State 1

Bottom Fifth
After the first two hitters reached on singles, Drew Gilbert's RBI single was followed by a double steal to push two runs across.
Tennessee 7, Mississippi State 1

Bottom Sixth
A two-out walk was followed by a pair of base hits, with Max Ferguson's base hit scoring the runner from second.
Tennessee 8, Mississippi State 1

Top Eighth
Logan Tanner walked to start the inning, moved to third on Josh Hatcher's single and scored on a fielder's choice ground out from Kamren James.
Tennessee 8, Mississippi State 2

Bottom Eighth
The first three batters reached base via single to load the bases. A walk to Spence pushed the first run across, before Ferguson doubled to drive in two more. Ferguson ended the game with an RBI single, in line with the SEC Tournament 10-run rule.
Tennessee 12, Mississippi State 2

Up Next
Mississippi State will await its postseason fate, as NCAA Regional host sites will be announced at 7:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, May 30 and the 64-team NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced at 11 a.m. CT on Monday, May 31. The selection of the tournament field will air on ESPN2 on Monday.