Mississippi State Baseball Drops 1-0 Game to Top-Seeded Vanderbilt at SEC Tournament

Thursday, May 23

Hoover, Ala. (Hoover Metropolitan Stadium)

approx. 8:00 PM

Mississippi State

46-12

#2 Vanderbilt

47-10

Mississippi State

Vanderbilt

Mississippi State Baseball Drops 1-0 Game to Top-Seeded Vanderbilt at SEC Tournament

May 23, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score

By Greg Campbell, Assistant Director/Communications

HOOVER, Ala. – A pair of front-line starting pitchers dueled in the final game of the third day at the SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met on Thursday (May 23), as the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program fell to No. 2 Vanderbilt, 1-0, despite a sparkling effort from redshirt-junior Ethan Small.

Small posted his 10th double-digit strikeout effort of the season and scattered three hits. Vanderbilt (47-10) scratched across the lone run of the game in the second inning, as Small hit a batter with one out, before a single put runners on the corners. After another strikeout, Julian Infante singled to score the only run of the game.

Mississippi State (46-12) had its chances against Commodore starting pitcher Drake Fellows and three VU relievers, as the Diamond Dawgs put runners on base in the first eight innings, stranding nine. Senior Marshall Gilbert and sophomore Justin Foscue each reached base three times, posting two hits apiece, while freshman Luke Hancock pushed his reached base streak to 12 games with a hit.

Quotable
Head coach Chris Lemonis
On the offense
"We're facing a lot of power arms. Their guy [Drake Fellows] was really good tonight, and then they come out of the bullpen with some power arms and we face power arms at the end of last night's game. A little frustration maybe, out of the offense, but they're competing. I thought we did a great job with the strike zone, got [Fellows] out in the sixth. We're just not getting that big hit right now."

On Ethan Small
"I thought Ethan was great. They have a ball land [fair down the left-field line] on him in the second inning, but I thought he was good all night against a really good offense."

Quick Hitters
Mississippi State
Ethan Small – Posted his 10th double-digit strikeout game of the season and ended the night with 11 strikeouts. He threw seven innings and allowed one run on three hits in the loss.
Justin Foscue – Reached base three times, including a pair of hits and a walk.
Marshall Gilbert – Was 2-for-3 and reached via a hit-by-pitch.
Luke Hancock – Moved his reached base streak to 12 games with a walk in the game.

Vanderbilt
Julian Infante – Drove in the lone RBI of the game in the second inning.
Drake Fellows – Scattered five hits over six innings. Walked one and struck out eight.
Tyler Brown – Allowed one hit and struck out one in 1 2/3 innings of work to earn his 14th save of the season.

Scoring Recap
Bottom Second
After MSU starting pitcher Ethan Small struck out the first batter of the inning, Stephen Scott was hit by a pitch and Harrison Ray singled on a bunt to put two on. Small got another strikeout, before Julian Infante singled down the left-field line to give Vanderbilt the early one-run lead.
Vanderbilt 1, Mississippi State 0

Up Next
Mississippi State will meet LSU for the second time in the SEC Tournament at approximately 6:30 p.m. CT in the final game of the double-elimination format of the tournament on Friday, May 24. The winner of Friday's game will face off against Vanderbilt in the second game on Saturday, May 25.