The Mississippi State and Southern Miss baseball teams ran out of steam on Sunday night, with both teams seeing their seasons come to a close in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
After finding wins earlier in the day, the Bulldogs were defeated by Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional while the Golden Eagles couldn’t hang on against top-seeded Tennessee in the Knoxville Regional.
Virginia 9, Mississippi State 2
The Bulldogs won their opening game of the day with a sound 13-5 win over St. John’s, and with a two-run home run from Dakota Jordan in the opening inning against the Cavaliers, it looked like Chris Lemonis’ squad was heading in the right direction to force a Monday loser-goes-home game.
Unfortunately, the homer from Jordan would be the extent of Mississippi State’s offensive production. After scoring one in the top of the first, Virginia added two more runs off an error and an infield single in the top of the third to take a 3-2 lead.
Mississippi State pitcher Pico Kahn settled down after the initial runs and pitched a season-high seven innings with eight strikeouts and left the game with his team down one. With Gavin Black entering in relief, he held Virginia off for another inning before the bats exploded for the Cavaliers against Tyler Davis in the top of the ninth. Six runs later, and the score was 9-2 – one the Bulldogs could not overcome in its final at-bat.
Although they couldn’t advance, the Bulldogs returned to the postseason for the first time since the 2021 national title. It was the 40th time Mississippi State played in a regional and the third time under Lemonis.
Tennessee 12, Southern Miss 3
After demolishing Indiana in the morning game, 15-3, Christian Ostrander’s squad had a tall task ahead with back-to-back wins over Tennessee needed to advance to a super regional.
Early on, Southern Miss did not back down, matching the Volunteers’ 1-0 lead with a Dalton McIntyre RBI that knotted the game up. In the fifth inning with Tennessee up 2-1, Ozzie Pratt hit a two-run double for the Golden Eagles to take their first and only lead of the day. Four Tennessee home runs and a solid outing on the bump from Nate Snead resulted in a Volunteer win.
Southern Miss senior Slade Wilks managed to get on base with an eighth-inning single to close his final hitting streak with the Golden Eagles at 36 games – the second-longest in program history.
It’s the second year in a row Southern Miss has had its season ended by Tennessee after falling to Tony Vitello’s group in the 2023 Hattiesburg Super Regional.