Hancock hits second home run of the weekend against the Red Raiders
ARLINGTON, Texas – For the third straight season, the No. 8 Mississippi State baseball program faced off with No. 12 Texas Tech in a neutral site contest and for the fourth time in those three seasons, State came away with a victory, 11-5, over the Red Raiders to close out the State Farm College Baseball Showdown.
The lead changed hands three times in the game and entered the ninth inning with State holding a one-run lead, 6-5. The Dawgs exploded for five runs in the ninth, which included a Rowdey Jordan RBI triple to start the scoring in the frame.
Rowdey Jordan and Luke Hancock each plated three RBIs in the game, with Hancock launching his second home run of the season to lead of the Mississippi State (2-1) offense. Jordan was 2-for-5 with two extra base hits to go along with his three RBIs and one run scored. Hancock was on base three times in the game, adding a single and a walk to his home run.
Josh Hatcher and Scotty Dubrule each went 2-for-4 with a walk and one RBI, while Kamren James and Brad Cumbest both drove in single runs in the contest.
In his first career appearance at MSU, true freshman Jackson Fristoe (ND) worked three innings of scoreless baseball in the no decision. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out four in the outing, which included three walks and two hit batters.
Graduate student Carlisle Koestler (1-0) got the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-run relief work against the Red Raiders. The right-hander struck out six batters in his first appearance of the season. The MSU pitching staff piled up 15 more strikeouts to run the weekend total to 41 strikeouts in 27 innings of work.
The 41 strikeouts mark the second time in the last three seasons that MSU fanned 40-plus batters in a weekend. That total is the second-most strikeouts in a three-game weekend series since at least 2005, trailing only the 43 strikeouts by the 2019 squad against Youngstown State on the opening weekend of the new Dudy Noble Field.
Dru Baker led Texas Tech (0-3) at the plate with two RBIs and Dylan Neuse reached base four times with three walks and one hit-by-pitch. He also scored twice. Jamie Hitt (0-1) took the loss with three runs allowed in 2 1/3 innings of work. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out one batter.
Quotable
Head Coach Chris Lemonis
On what he learned about his pitching staff this weekend
“The one thing it let us do was learn more than we would have in a normal weekend. [We were able to] see some more guys and see some guys in some different situations, like a Jackson Fristoe early in a game or KC Hunt late [in the game] … We were down a bunch of arms this weekend, and that is the year we are going to have, and we have told our guys to embrace it and it is a next man up mentality. I give our guys a lot of credit and I like the way we played. We didn’t play perfect, and we have a lot of room to improve, but we played tough. Our guys stay engaged, they play tough and that is what I like about them.”
On Jackson Fristoe
“I thought Jackson had really good stuff. He showed some composure [with runners on base], because they have some great team speed. I think you get a little amped [in this type of environment]. He would get 1-2 and next thing you know it is 3-2 because he is trying to throw the best strikeout pitch in the country, but he will figure that out over time … Because of the weather [this spring] we couldn’t get our pitch counts where we want them, so we felt we could take a positive and move it into next week. He probably could have run out there for another inning, but we wanted him to come off the field and feel really good about what he did.”
Scoring Recap
Top Second
A walk to Luke Hancock was followed by a single from Scotty Dubrule to put runners on the corners with two outs for Brad Cumbest. The sophomore outfielder shot the first pitch he saw from TTU starting pitcher Mason Montgomery up the middle for an RBI single to give MSU the early edge.
Mississippi State 1, Texas Tech 0
Bottom Fourth
Cameron Tullar replaced Jackson Fristoe to start the inning and Jace Jung greeted him with a leadoff base hit. After Fristoe retired the next two batters, Braxton Fulford doubled into the left field corner to bring Jung around to score and tie the game.
Mississippi State 1, Texas Tech 1
Top Fifth
The Diamond Dawgs benefited from a walk and an error to put runners on second and third with one out. Rowdey Jordan then shot a single through the right side to score both runs.
Mississippi State 3, Texas Tech 1
Bottom Fifth
A three-run inning gave Texas Tech the lead, as the Red Raiders used three walks, two hits and one hit-by-pitch to push three runs across against Tullar. The first run scored on a Dru Baker single with one out. A walk loaded the bases, before a wild pitch allowed the second run of the inning to score. Cole Stilwell’s bases hit capped the scoring in the frame for Tech.
Texas Tech 4, Mississippi State 3
Top Sixth
With one out, Josh Hatcher worked a walk and Hancock hit his second home run of the weekend to push MSU back into the lead.
Mississippi State 5, Texas Tech 4
Bottom Sixth
Texas Tech pushed one across in the bottom of the sixth against Carlisle Koestler, as a leadoff walk moved to third on an infield base hit and came in to score on a one-out fielder’s choice.
Mississippi State 5, Texas Tech 5
Top Eighth
Logan Tanner singled to start the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch before Hancock’s ground out advanced him to third with two outs. Dubrule then beat out a chopper on the infield to give MSU the one-run lead.
Mississippi State 6, Texas Tech 5
Top Ninth
Five runs on four hits opened up the game in State’s final at-bat, as MSU also benefitted from one TTU error. Drew McGowan came around to score on the Rowdey Jordan triple with one out, after he led the inning off with a walk. Kamren James then plated Jordan with a single and Tanner Allen followed with a walk. The pair came around to score after Hatcher singled back to the pitcher, who’s throw to first was wide of the bag and allowed both runs to cross. Hancock then capped the scoring with a base hit that scored Hatcher.
Mississippi State 11, Texas Tech 5
Up Next
Mississippi State opens its home schedule on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. against Jackson State at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs will play 13 of the next 14 games at home, as they host Tulane in a three-game series starting on Friday, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m. before they head to Pearl, Mississippi, to face off with Southern Miss on Tuesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. at Trustmark Park.