STARKVILLE – An unwritten rule in baseball is never talk about how fast a game is progressing. On Tuesday (April 13) evening at Dudy Noble Field, No. 3 Mississippi State baseball and Arkansas State cruised through the first six innings, before an explosion of offense ended in an 18-10 victory for the Diamond Dawgs.

After falling behind 3-1 in the third inning, Mississippi State (25-7) scored in each of its final five innings at the plate, including an emphatic three homer, 12-run eighth inning that proved to be the difference in the contest. Arkansas State (9-17) didn’t go quietly down 18-3, as the Red Wolves put together a seven-run ninth inning to account for the final margin of 19-10.

Offensively, Mississippi State saw 10 players collect hits and 13 reach base in the game. Five hit home runs and three more added doubles. Rowdey Jordan and Lane Forsythe each posted three-hit games, while Brad Cumbest chipped in a pair of hits. Forsythe’s three RBIs led a quintet of Diamond Dawgs with multi-RBI games.

Jordan wasted no time pushing his reached base streak to 17 games with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. It was the fifth of the season for Jordan and the first State home run to lead off a game since Jake Mangun in 2019 at Florida. Jordan went 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two RBIs.

Forsythe hit his first career home run in the fifth inning, followed with a two-RBI double in the sixth inning and an RBI single in the eighth. He then walked and scored his second run of the eighth inning to put him on base four times in the game.

Cumbest opened the eighth inning with a solo home run, before Kellum Clark and Kyte McDonald collected their first career home runs in the inning to give MSU five home runs in the game. The 12-run eighth inning is the highest scoring inning for MSU since a 13-run first inning against Lamar on February 20, 2011.

Cade Smith (1-0) collected his first career pitching victory with two scoreless innings of work and five strikeouts. He allowed two hits and walked one in his second career appearance. State fanned 15 batters in the game to run its streak of consecutive double-digit strikeout games to 12.

Arkansas State was led by Jaylon Deshazier’s 3-for-5 night at the plate and four RBIs. Jake Gish and Will Huber each homered for the Rd Wolves. Jake Algee (0-1) took the loss with three runs earned in 1 2/3 innings of work.

Quotable

Head coach Chris Lemonis

On Cade Smith

CL: I thought [Cade] was good. We tried to stretch him out a little bit and give him two innings. I thought it was really good; the stuff was really good. He pitched pretty good. I think he left a couple balls over the middle of the plate, but he was able to wiggle out of a jam. We want to see how he feels tomorrow and the next day to see how he’s bouncing back, but everything’s been good since he’s come back.

On if the offense has reached it potential

CL: I think we’re close. We’re working, and I always feel like we’re two hitters away. We’re playing better and the lineup from 1-to-9 is having more success. I would still like to get a couple more guys to going, but that’s just the coach being greedy. [I know] usually you don’t have all nine going, but we’ve been pretty good of late.

Scoring Recap

Bottom First

Rowdey Jordan hit a solo home run to right field to begin the scoring in the game.

Mississippi State 1, Arkansas State 0

Top Second

Jake Gish came back with a solo home run to left field to tie up the early game.

Mississippi State 1, Arkansas State 1

Top Third

Liam Hicks singled through the right side and advanced to second on a Ben Klutts single before the duo advanced on a wild pitch. A ground out brought one in and an RBI single for Jaylon Deshazier plated another.

Arkansas State 3, Mississippi State 1

Bottom Fourth

A single by Brayland Skinner and back-to-back walks for Kamren James and Luke Hancock loaded the bases before a Logan Tanner sacrifice fly scored one for State.

Arkansas State 3, Mississippi State 2

Bottom Fifth

Lane Forsythe hit a solo home run to right field to tie the game.

Mississippi State 3, Arkansas State 3

Bottom Sixth

Tanner singled and advanced to third on a Brad Cumbest base hit. A walk for Scotty Dubrule loaded the bases before a Forsythe double with two outs plated two.

Mississippi State 5, Arkansas State 3

Bottom Seventh

James was hit-by-pitch and stole second before advancing to third on a throwing error. He scored when Tanner reached on a fielding error.

Mississippi State 6, Arkansas State 3

Bottom Eighth

Cumbest hit the third solo home run of the night to left field to start the inning. Dubrule singled down the left field line and advanced to third on Forsythe’s base hit. A double for Jordan plated one before Forsythe and Jordan came in following a pair of wild pitches. Kellum Clark walked and rounded second on a single for James, both advancing on a wild pitch. Clark scored on a ground out before James scored on a passed ball. Tanner Leggett walked with one out in front of Kyte McDonald’s first career home run to left field. Davis Meche was hit-by-pitch and advanced to second and third on wild pitches. Forsythe walked before Drew McGowan doubled to score the ninth run of the inning. Clark capped MSU’s scoring with a three-run home run.

Mississippi State 18, Arkansas State 3

Top Ninth

Will Huber hit a solo home run to right field to start the frame and Jaylon Deshazier plated three runs with a bases clearing double with one out. Blake McCutchen, Gish and Tipton each provided RBIs to round out the scoring in the contest.

Mississippi State 18, Arkansas State 10

 

Up Next

The fifth weekend of SEC play will bring a top 10 Ole Miss team to The Dude for Super Bulldog Weekend. The series will start at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 16 and air live on the SEC Network.