The Mississippi State baseball team had to rally to overcome a two run deficit against the SHSU Bearkats in the opening game of the Frisco Classic.
The Mississippi State baseball team continued their winning ways on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Frisco Classic. It wasn’t an easy win, as the Bulldogs trailed the Sam Houston State Bearkats by two runs after SHSU took the lead in the 7th, but the Bulldogs scored the final three runs to win 5-4.
Ethan Small, the Mississippi State baseball junior pitcher and ace of the pitching staff, continued his strong start to the year, even if he isn’t getting much in the way of run support. Small pitched six innings, gave up two earned runs and seven hits, and struck out six. His ERA on the season is at a sterling 2.00 and hitters are only batting .175 against him in 2019, but he still has yet to register a win.
The Mississippi State baseball team struck first in the opening game. The Bulldogs took the lead in the bottom half of the fourth inning. Tanner Allen led the inning off, and Elijah MacNamee drove him in later in the inning with a double. Justin Foscue would continue his hot streak and drive MacNamee in on the very next pitch. Foscue had three hits in four at bats on the day.
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But the Mississippi State baseball team could not hold the lead for long. In the top of the sixth, Ethan Small gave up his only two runs of the day, and the Bearkats would take the lead with two more runs in the seventh inning.
But the lead for Sam Houston State wouldn’t last long either. The Mississippi State baseball team, as they have done every Friday night so far in 2019, was able to mount a comeback in their half of the seventh inning. An RBI single by Jake Mangum and a sacrifice fly later in the inning by Tanner Allen, and the game was once again tied.
The Bulldogs would take the lead for good in the bottom of the 8th inning. Justin Foscue led the inning off with a double. He would then score after the SHSU shortstop couldn’t handle a ground ball off the bat of Dustin Skelton.
Cole Gordon came in to the game in the top half of the 9th inning to close it down for the Mississippi State baseball team. He allowed one base runner, but he kept the Bearkats scoreless. Gordon still has not allowed a run to score since the opening game of the Tallahassee regional in 2018.
The Mississippi State baseball team will take the field in the second game on Saturday of the Frisco Classic. They will play the third ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders in the marquee game of the weekend.