Diamond Dawgs fall short of third-straight ninth-inning rally in 4-3 loss to Vanderbilt

Mississippi State’s offensive struggles continued in the SEC Tournament on Thursday and the Bulldogs didn’t have the luxury of a late-game swing to pull them out this time.

Trailing 4-1 in the final inning, the Bulldogs tried to rally yet again but the hole would be too deep and 11 runners left on base would loom large. The Commodores would string together hits of their own and cash in for the 4-3 victory.

The loss moved State to the loser’s bracket of the tournament where they will play No. 1 Tennessee in Friday’s evening game.

While the Bulldogs had won the first two nights of the SEC Tournament, it didn’t hide the offensive struggle that the team is currently going through late in the year. State had zero runs in the first game against Ole Miss before Connor Hujsak delivered a two-run walk-off home run. Hujsak saved the day again on Wednesday night with his two-run single in the ninth in a 5-3 win over Texas A&M.

On Thursday, State tried to do it again. With two outs, David Mershon singled, Hujsak tripled and Chester had a hit of his own to cut the lead to 4-3. Logan Kohler grounded out to end the threat. The Bulldogs left 11 runners on the base throughout the ball game and continued to watch two of its best hitters free fall.

Hunter Hines and Dakota Jordan combined to finish 0-for-8 at the plate in the game with five strikeouts. They are 0-for-26 in the tournament to this point and have struck out 13 times.

MSU (38-20) had eight hits in the game with Mershon and Hujsak combining for two hits each.

State got another strong start in the game as Jurrangelo Cijntje went 6.0 innings and gave up five hits, three runs and just one walk while striking out 10 batters. He struck out the first six batters that he faced. The lack of offense handed him just his second loss of the season and the first since the Texas A&M series the second weekend of the SEC season.

Friday’s game against Tennessee is set for approximately 6:30 p.m. A win would get the Bulldogs to the semifinals on Saturday.

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