James homers, bullpen allowed one run over 7 1/3 innings of relief work

OMAHA, Neb. – Backs against the wall is nothing new for the No. 3 Mississippi State baseball program and that is where it stands after an 8-2 loss to No. 1 Vanderbilt in the opening game of the College World Series Championship Series on Monday (June 28) at TD Ameritrade Park.

It was the tale of one inning, as Mississippi State (48-18) opened the scoring with a solo home run, but Vanderbilt (49-16) pushed across seven in the bottom of the inning. The Diamond Dawgs added one in the fourth, before the Commodores scored one more in the seventh to cap the scoring.

Kamren James hit his 12th home run of the season to open the scoring in the first inning and move his reached base streak to 12 games. Tanner Allen was on base multiple times for the 44th time in 65 games played this season with a double and a hit-by-pitch to go along with one run scored.

Logan Tanner was on base three times with two base hits and walk. His first base knock was an RBI single in the fourth inning with two outs. Scotty Dubrule chipped in his seventh walk of the College World Series and added a base hit.

In his second start of the College World Series, Christian MacLeod (6-6) recorded just two outs and allowed six runs on two hits. He walked two and hit two batters. The bullpen went the rest of the way, tossing 7 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on three hits the rest of the way. Cade Smith and Brandon Smith each threw two scoreless innings without allowing a hit. The duo struck out two and three batters, respectively.

Jack Leiter (11-4) picked up the win on the mound with six innings of work and two runs allowed on three hits. He walked two and struck out eight. Jayson Gonzalez capped the big first inning with a three-run home run. He also walked and scored twice in the game. CJ Rodriguez also produced a multi-RBI game with two runs plated on one hit in the game.

Scoring Recap

Top First

Kamren James opened the scoring with a two-out solo home run to left field.

Mississippi State 1, Vanderbilt 0

Bottom First

Vanderbilt answered right back as five of the first six batters reached base with just one hit among them against starter Christian MacLeod. A walk was followed by a ground out, before another walk and two hit-by-pitches pushed the first run across. CJ Rodriguez brought in the next two runs with a base hit, before the second out was recorded. An RBI double from Isaiah Thomas was followed by a three-run blast by Jayson Gonzalez.

Vanderbilt 7, Mississippi State 1

Top Fourth

Tanner Allen started the inning with a double and came in to score on a two-out RBI single from Logan Tanner.

Vanderbilt 7, Mississippi State 2

Bottom Seventh

A leadoff walk came around to score on a one-out RBI single from Carter Young.

Vanderbilt 8, Mississippi State 2

Up Next

Mississippi State and Vanderbilt will meet in game two on Tuesday, June 29 at 6 p.m. The game will air on ESPN and the Mississippi State Radio Network.