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Mississippi State falls to Virginia to end season after ninth-inning meltdown
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Mississippi State outfielder Dakota Jordan slipped off the bag but for a brief second, and the Bulldogs’ season slipped away along with him Sunday in a sloppy, rain-soaked 9-2 loss to 12-seed Virginia.
The defeat ended MSU’s season at 40-23. For long stretches of the evening, it looked like MSU might be headed for another 1-run defeat. They had 13 on the season entering Sunday, including each of the previous 5 losses. They were close, but close is nothing but painful this time of year. In hindsight, a 1-run loss might have felt better. In the ninth inning, Mississippi State completely fell apart — a maddening mix of questionable decision-making and inexplicable execution.
Following the opening frame, MSU had a 2-1 lead on the regional hosts. Jordan hammered a straightaway home run — his 20th of the year — to score David Mershon and the Bulldogs looked like they’d keep barking after plating 13 runs against St. John’s earlier in the day.
There was nothing going the rest of the way; MSU had just 1 extra-base hit.
Virginia scored 2 in the top of the third to take a 1-run lead. Entering the top of the eighth, there was tension. Gavin Black replaced Pico Kohn on the mound and brought the flamethrower. Against the heart of UVa’s order, Black struck out the first 2 batters he faced before a 1-pitch ground-out to end the inning and bring the bats back out.
Jordan recorded a 2-out single in the bottom of the eighth and brought Hunter Hines to the plate. Rather than let Hines try to bring Jordan home, the Bulldogs sent Jordan to steal second. He had the bag, but slipped off it in the rain to end the inning.
Black struck out the first batter he faced and MSU pulled him.
That was a mistake.
Tyler Davis replaced black on the mound. He missed on 8 of his first 12 pitches, walking consecutive batters. He then allowed 5 consecutive singles. Ethan Anderson singled to load the bases. Luke Hanson singled to left field to score 2. Griff O’Ferrall reached on a fielder’s choice but 2 more runs scored on a throwing error.
Bobby Whalen singled. Then Casey Saucke singled. Enough damage had been done and MSU replaced Davis with Karson Ligon.
Ligon struck out the first batter he faced for the second out of the inning, but then consecutive wild pitches brought in 2 more runs. And as if there hadn’t been enough misery for one frame, a routine pop-up that would have ended the inning was lost in the lights and the Cavs stayed out.
A fly-out mercifully ended the disaster inning with 6 runs on 4 hits with 1 error recorded in the books. There were plenty more the Bulldogs will stew over in the coming days. In the 33-minute top of the ninth, Virginia scored 6 runs without an extra-base hit.
Hines singled to open the bottom of the ninth. Bryce Chance got a single. Virginia allowed nothing else. Nate Chester struck out swinging to end the game.
Kohn was given the loss after pitching 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 2 earned with 8 strikeouts. Virginia’s Jay Woolfolk went 8 masterful innings to earn the win. He gave up 8 hits but struck out 7. He was able to get ahead in the count often and dialed in after the 2-run homer in the first.
The Bulldogs were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021. Coming off consecutive 9-21 seasons against SEC opponents, the Bulldogs won 17 games in league play. But they finished just 8-10 away from home. And Sunday evening’s defeat will leave a sour taste in everyone’s mouth after the way it unraveled late.
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Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
