No. 9 Bulldogs Drop Opener To Tennesssee

Friday, April 10

Starkville

6 p.m.

Mississippi State

26-8, 7-6

Tennessee

22-12, 5-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Tennessee	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	6	11	0
Mississippi State	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	1	1	5	9	0

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

No. 9 Bulldogs Drop Opener To Tennesssee

April 10, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

STARKVILLE - No. 9 Mississippi State battled back multiple times but couldn't overcome a late surge by Tennessee, as the Volunteers held off the Bulldogs for a 6-5 victory Friday night at Dudy Noble Field.

The Diamond Dawgs (26-8, 7-6 SEC) erased an early deficit and answered again late, but a three-run eighth inning from the Vols proved to be the difference in a tightly contested opener.

Tennessee (22-12, 5-8) struck first in the third inning when Garrett Wright tripled and later scored on a groundout before Henry Ford added a solo home run to give the Volunteers a 2-0 lead.

State chipped away in the fourth. Ace Reese doubled and later came home on Jacob Parker's sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Vols answered immediately in the top of the fifth with a solo homer from Levi Clark to take a two-run advantage.

The Bulldogs tied things up 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth behind back-to-back solo home runs from Reed Stallman and Kevin Milewski.

The game turned in the eighth. Tennessee loaded the bases and capitalized with a series of clutch at-bats, highlighted by RBI hits from Nate Eisfelder and Wright, along with a run-scoring fielder's choice, to plate three runs and seize a 6-3 lead.

The Bulldogs didn't go quietly. In the bottom half of the eighth, MSU trimmed the deficit to 6-4 when Noah Sullivan delivered an RBI single to score Aidan Teel.

Stallman continued his big night in the ninth, launching his second solo homer of the game to pull State within one. But the rally fell short as the final two hitters were retired, sealing the win for the Volunteers.

Stallman led the way for the Diamond Dawgs, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBIs, while Teel, Reese and Sullivan each collected two hits.

Tennessee finished with 11 hits, led by Wright's three-hit performance and multi-hit outings from Ford and others, as the Vols' bullpen held firm down the stretch.

Mississippi State starter Tomas Valincius worked six innings, allowing three runs while striking out six, keeping the Bulldogs in position to win entering the late innings.

MSU attempts to even the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. Duke Stone (5-0, 3.75 ERA) will get the start for the Diamond Dawgs while Tennessee goes with a sophomore right-hander of its own in Tegan Kuhns (1-3, 3.89 ERA).

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