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Bulldogs drop Game 2 in College Station, setting up crucial Saturday Season Finale

Mississippi State beat writer Colin Dammsby: Colin Damms05/16/26Colintheshots95

It wasn’t meant to be for the Diamond Dawgs on Friday night in College Station.

No. 13 Mississippi State dropped Game Two of its series against No. 10 Texas A&M, losing 11-9 to an Aggie team that just continued to put up runs. They were one swing away from making things interesting in an 18-11 loss on Thursday, and now forces a massive Game Three with postseason implications for both teams.

The second game of the series wasn’t quite as high-scoring as Game One, but the back and forth nature made for a drawn out contest nonetheless. The core problem for State was the lack of defense early on as the Aggies built and maintained a lead established in the middle innings.

Game Three is likely to be more of the same, and it may be a case of the Bulldog offense fulfilling its potential or not to keep national seed hopes alive.

The Aggies went with Weston Moss as a starter, who held a 4-2 record and a 5.67 earned run average coming into the game. He had a habit of going five or six innings deep early in the season, but had been knocked out much earlier in most of his SEC contests. He got off to a hot start, going 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts against the top of the Bulldog order.

The Aggie offense was up next and took a 2-0 first-inning lead for the second night in a row. Gavin Grahovac got aboard on a leadoff base hit and Caden Sorrell got the pair of them home with his 23rd home run of the season.

Bulldog starter Duke Stone is usually good for a couple of baserunners before he starts throwing heat. In this matchup, that left the danger of the long ball, which the Aggies were hoping for. He would only make it 2.2 innings before Jack Bauer had to enter the game, and in the process gave up seven runs to the Aggies.

The Bulldog offense kicked on in the second, and posted nine runs over the following five innings, but still struggled to keep pace with the Aggies. Caden Sorrell and Ben Royo had three hits each before the final inning, with Gavin Grahovac, Jorian Wilson and Blake Binderup each posting multi-hit games as well.

Sorrell accounted for six RBI, posting a double, a triple and a home run.

The Aggies led 11-9 going into the ninth inning, with the middle of the Bulldog order due up in do or die time. Jacob Parker was up first, facing off with one of A&M’s best relievers in Clayton Freshcorn. He posted zeros in back to back innings for the Aggies, but gave up a leadoff hit to give MSU hope.

That hope was shortlived though. Reed Stallman struck out for out one, and Bryce Chance hit into a double play. He reached first base safely, but Vytas Valincius couldn’t get it done with two gone.

The pivotal Game Three will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

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