No. 4 Mississippi State was swept at home by No. 5 Georgia, Ole Miss traveled to and took two of three from No. 21 Florida, and No. 8 Southern Miss pulled two of three at Old Dominion to round out an early Easter weekend of college baseball.
Mississippi State was nearly run-ruled in Thursday’s opener before scoring seven in the final two innings. What would have been a storybook comeback fell short with the final score being 10-9 in favor of Georgia. Friday saw a solid start by Tomas Valincius – 10 strikeouts and two earned runs across 7 1/3 innings – wasted due to minimal offensive production.
The final score was 3-1. Mississippi State (25-7, 7-5 SEC) took an early 3-0 lead on Saturday before Georgia (27-6, 10-2 SEC) climbed back and forced extra innings. In the top of the tenth, three runs would serve as the decisive blow with Georgia winning 8-5.
“I talked to the team … about what a winner’s mentality looks like, and we just have to be better from that standpoint. We have to grow in that area,” Mississippi State head coach Brian O’Connor said. “We showed some immaturity this weekend, and Georgia exposed that. Georgia’s got a really good team.”
Georgia, statistically the best power-hitting team in the SEC with 87 home runs coming into the weekend, hit six long balls throughout the series. Mississippi State stood its ground in the category with five coming off the bats of Gehrig Frei (2), Ace Reese, Vytas Valincius, and Aidan Teel, who left game three and was spotted wearing a boot in the dugout. O’Connor confirmed Teel’s foot is not broken, and he is not expected to miss significant time.
The Bulldogs from Athens vaulted over the Bulldogs from Starkville in the SEC standings with the sweep, placing them in the conference’s top spot, elevating them over No. 2 Texas. The silver lining for Mississippi State, though, is that the team has yet to lose to a club ranked outside of the top 10 at the time of play this season.
Ole Miss, in desperate need of redemption, found some in Gainesville. The Rebels (22-11, 5-7 SEC) came into the series against Florida (24-9, 7-5 SEC) with losses in four of the last five games before finding a 6-4 win on Thursday. On Friday, ace Hunter Elliott struck out nine over four innings, but his two runs and no help from his own offense resulted in a 2-0 loss.
Saturday’s 5-2 win included six innings of one-run ball from Cade Townsend. Offensively, the Rebels had gone scoreless through eight innings, but found new life in the top of the ninth. A game-tying home run from Judd Utermark was followed by a sacrifice fly by Brayden Randle that scored Brett Moseley. Hayden Federico then singled to centerfield, scoring Owen Paino and Cannon Goldin. Brandon native Walker Hooks closed out the game, holding the Gators scoreless in the final frame to secure the series.
Southern Miss traveled to Old Dominion and dominated on Thursday with a 10-4 win. A six-run sixth inning lifted the Monarchs to a 10-8 win on Friday before the Golden Eagles (23-9, 7-5 Sun Belt) avoided being back-doored with an 8-7 win on Saturday over the Monarchs (14-17, 4-8 Sun Belt).
Christian Ostrander’s club appeared to be cruising to a series win through six innings on Saturday before disaster struck. Not ready to call it quits, Old Dominion, trailing 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh, scored six runs in the frame to take a 7-6 lead. Southern Miss, recognizing it could not afford to lose a series to a team with the No. 165 RPI, did what it needed to win.
Seth Smith hit a single in the top of the eighth that scored Drey Barrett and tied the game. Ben Higdon hit a go-ahead double to right field in the top of the ninth, scoring Kyle Morrison to reclaim the lead. Golden Eagle closer Camden Clark (5-0) forced a groundout, and an ensuing double play following an Old Dominion single to wrap the weekend in black and gold.
Next up
Mississippi State: vs. UAB in Starkville on Tuesday before welcoming Tennessee for the weekend series.
Ole Miss: vs. Alcorn State in Oxford on Tuesday before welcoming LSU for the weekend series.
Southern Miss: vs. New Orleans in Hattiesburg on Tuesday before traveling to Louisiana for the weekend series.