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Tennessee downs State, 6-5, to take series opener

Paul Jones Mississippi State Bulldogsby: Paul Jones04/11/26PaulJonesOn3

Tennessee scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning Friday and held on for a 6-5 victory over Mississippi State in the series opener.

For State, it was the fourth straight SEC loss as the Diamond Dogs dropped to 26-8 overall and 7-6 in the SEC. Tennessee moved to 22-12 overall and 5-8 in the league.

Mississippi State freshman reliever Jack Bauer nearly escaped damage in the eighth inning. But Levi Clark beat out a fielder’s choice to give the Vols a 4-3 advantage. Nate EISFELDER, and Garrett Wright would add RBI singles later in the frame for insurance runs.

State tried to rally in the final two frames. The Diamond Dogs got an RBI single by Noah Sullivan in the eighth and a solo homer from Reed Stallman in the ninth. But the Diamond Dogs would get no closer.

Tennessee jumped to a 2-0 lead in the third off of Mississippi State starter Tomas Valincius. Reese Chapman had a RBI groundout and later in the frame, Henry Ford blasted a solo homerun to left field.

Valinsius allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings of work. Tyler Pitzer (2-2) suffered the loss for State, allowing two runs on one hit in .1 inning of relier.

Cam Appenzeller (5-0) got the win for Tennessee after allowing two runs on three hits in five innings with six strikeouts.

State got on the board in the fourth and cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly by Jacob Parker.

However, Tennessee pushed the lead back to two runs, 3-1, in the fifth with a solo homer by Clark.

Not to be outdone, the Diamond Dogs tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Stallman and Kevin Milewski led off the frame with solo homers, which chased Tennessee starting pitcher Landon Mack.

Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 6 p.m.

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