KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — They’re back.
After a quiet offensive weekend against LSU, the Mississippi State bats woke up against Tennessee on Sunday afternoon.
Backed by home runs from sophomores Tanner Allen and Rowdey Jordan, MSU secured a 7-5 win over Tennessee and with it a 2-1 series victory.
“We are really good [offensively] right now, but we can be special at the plate if [Tanner] gets going,” head coach Chris Lemonis said. “Rowdey also had a couple of big hits, too. Those two left-handed bats are huge for us moving forward.”
Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Jordan notched his second long ball of the season to cut the Volunteer lead in half. He was 3-for-4 on the day.
The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning courtesy of an Elijah MacNamee RBI single and a Marshall Gilbert walk with the bases loaded.
On the mound, starter JT Ginn was replaced after just one inning of work. Ginn had dealt with some apparent discomfort earlier in the week.
Redshirt junior Keegan James was stellar in three innings of relief, giving up just one run on one hit along with one strikeout.
Redshirt junior Trysten Barlow and senior Jared Liebelt closed out the second half of the contest. Barlow and Liebelt combined for five innings of work, allowing just two runs and five hits.
After Tennessee cut the MSU lead to one in the bottom of the sixth, freshman Brad Cumbest added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Jordan from third base.
MSU now heads back to Starkville for a five-game home stand. They’ll welcome South Alabama to town at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday before a three-game set with Alabama next weekend.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.