Vols Defeated by Mississippi State, 14-4, in Game Two

Saturday, March 25

Starkville, MS

7:30 PM

University of Tennessee

13-7, 0

Mississippi State

14-10, 0

Tennessee

Mississippi State

March 26, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

March 26, 2017

Box Score

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- In Game Two of its weekend series at Dudy Noble Field, Tennessee fell to Mississippi State, 14-4, on Saturday night.

With the loss, the Volunteers (13-7, 0-5 SEC) move to 29-57 in the overall series against Mississippi State (14-10, 2-3 SEC).

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, plating a run on a sacrifice fly to right field.

With two outs in the second, Mississippi State scratched four more runs across to extend their lead. Jake Mangum hit a bases-clearing, two-RBI double to left field before Brent Rooker hit a two-run homer in the next at-bat to put the Bulldogs up, 5-0.

The Bulldogs used five hits in the third frame and four in the fourth to tack on eight runs and take a 13-0 lead.

Tennessee posted its first run in the top of the sixth as freshman Justin Ammons reached safely on an error and advanced to second and third on back-to-back hits by Pete Derkay and Andre Lipcius before scoring on an RBI groundout from Luc Lipcius.

The Vols plated two more runs in the seventh on two consecutive balk calls against State pitcher Trey Jolly, trimming the Bulldogs lead, 13-3. Mississippi State answered and scored its last run of the game in the bottom of the inning.

Tennessee staged a rally in the ninth, scoring a quick run to cut the deficit to 14-4. The Vols went on to load the bases with two outs but the Bulldogs held UT to work out of the ninth.

Righty Zach Linginfelter was charged with the loss for UT. He allowed five runs on six hits and one walk through 1.2 innings of work in the start. The Vols later went to Daniel Vasquez (1.0), Connor Darling (2.2), Jacob Westphal (0.2), Andrew Schultz (1.0) and Will Heflin (1.0) in relief.

Derkay (2-for-4) and Andre Lipcius (2-for-5) each had two hits for Tennessee while five other Vols tallied one hit apiece.

TENNESSEE QUICK HITS

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Andre Lipcius extended his team high streak of reaching base safely to 20 straight games. Lipcius has now reached safely in every game to begin his Tennessee career.
REACHING SAFELY: Jordan Rodgers (19), Pete Derkay (14) and Jeff Moberg (13) also extended their streaks of reaching base safely for the Vols.
Derkay recorded his first career start in the cleanup spot on Saturday. He is the second freshman to start at the spot in 2017 (also, Andre Lipcius).
Tennessee has allowed opponents to register double-digit hits in just seven of 20 games this season.
Saturday's game started at 9:04 p.m. ET due to a 1.5 hour rain delay after the start time was adjusted to 7:30 p.m. ET for inclement weather earlier in the day.
ON DECK FOR THE VOLS: Tennessee concludes its three-game series against Mississippi State on Sunday, March 26 at 2:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+. Lefthander Zach Warren is slated to get the Sunday start against the Bulldogs.
Saturday's attendance at Dudy Noble Field: 6,335