The Mississippi State baseball team had no problem winning its first game in its new stadium to get the 2019 season underway.
Chris Lemonis and the Mississippi State Bulldogs have yet to lose a game during the 2019 Mississippi State baseball season! Well, that’d be a bit more impressive if the Bulldogs were 20 games into the season rather than just one game into the season, but hey, we are where we are.
When Lemonis and the Mississippi State Bulldogs got the 2019 season started last night by hosting the Youngstown State Penguins, MSU came out on top thanks to an explosive eighth inning.
That’s right, the inning that used to haunt the Mississippi State baseball team was instrumental in MSU getting a win.
Ethan Small got the start for the Bulldogs, taking the mound on Opening Day and dominating Youngstown State in the process. The junior from Lexington, Tennessee threw 74 pitches through just 5.0 innings, but he struck out 11 of his foes in the process.
However, the Penguins were able to make their mark on Small. In the fourth inning, Youngstown State hit a two-run shot to put the Penguins up 2-0. Then, in the top of the sixth, the Penguins added another run, setting the Mississippi State baseball team behind 3-0.
But the Mississippi State Bulldogs mounted one heck of a comeback to get ahead in their brand new home stadium.
In the bottom of the sixth, Rowdey Jordan pushed Jake Mangum across home plate for the first MSU run of the season, cutting that Penguins’ lead to 3-1. Tanner Allen then launched a two-run homer of his own to tie things up at 3-3.
And then in the bottom of the eighth inning, things got really interesting for the Mississippi State baseball team. The Bulldogs tacked on 11 runs thanks to 9 hits in the inning. MSU went from tied up at 3-3 to leading 14-3 in just one inning.
Unsurprisngly, Youngstown State didn’t have the firepower to overcome that sort of deficit.
Over on the mound, Peyton Plumlee relieved Small and threw for a couple of innings. Cole Gordon came in right behind him for an inning and got the win. Colby White closed the game out for the Bulldogs.
All stats via HailState.com
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will get back to business against Youngstown State today for a doubleheader. The Bulldogs and the Penguins will get things started at noon.