2017 SEC Baseball Tournament: Recap and Photos of Mississippi State’s Comeback Win

by Jake Mastroianni May 25, 2017

by Jake Mastroianni May 25, 2017 1 comment

2017 SEC Baseball Tournament recap and photos from Mississippi State’s 4-3 win over Arkansas on Thursday morning.

After waiting several days to play their first game, the Razorbacks came out swinging with a 2-run home run in the first inning from Luke Bonfield. They added another run in the second to make it 3-0.

Arkansas had three hits in the first two innings, but didn’t get another hit until the seventh and finished with just five hits in the game.

Razorback starting pitcher Trevor Stephan worked in-and-out of trouble all day, but left the game with a 3-1 lead in the seventh. He tossed 6-plus innings allowing just the 1 run on 8 hits and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts. It was a very gutsy performance by the junior.

However, the bullpen for Arkansas fell apart and allowed three runs in the final two innings as the Bulldogs came back to win 4-3.

Brent Rooker tied the game in the ninth with an RBI double. Mississippi State loaded the bases with no outs before Cody Brown earned a walk to bring in the go-ahead run.

Arkansas used five pitchers in the inning, but somehow managed to keep it a 1-run game. But they couldn’t push anything across on the Mississippi State closer Riley Self.

The unsung hero in this game for Mississippi state was Peyton Plumlee who tossed four scoreless innings in relief to keep the Bulldogs in the game.

Mississippi State out-hit the Razorbacks 12-5, but left 12 runners on base.

Ryan Gridley had two hits and scored a run for Mississippi State, while Elijah MacNamee was 3-5 with an RBI. Rooker also had two hits in the game to go along with an RBI and a run scored.

The Razorbacks will turn right back around and face Auburn at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mississippi State will face one seeded Florida on Friday morning.

NCAA Tournament Picture: Both teams are safely in the NCAA Tournament. The loss certainly hurts Arkansas’ chances of hosting a regional. They may need to win a game or two in the SEC Baseball Tournament to secure a hosting site. Mississippi State will probably need to win the entire thing to have a shot at hosting a regional.