Allen posted four hits, scored three runs, drove in two RBIs and delivered his third career walk off hit
STARKVILLE – It took 12 innings, but the No. 4 Mississippi State baseball program sent the Dudy Noble Field faithful home happy as Tanner Allen’s leadoff, walk off home run in the 12th inning gave the Diamond Dawgs an 8-7 victory over Texas A&M to start the series.
Mississippi State (30-10, 12-7 SEC) scored single runs five different innings to go along with a three-run seventh inning in the victory, while Texas A&M (24-20, 5-14 SEC) used a pair of three run frames and scored a single run in the sixth to account for its total.
The extra inning game is the first of the season for State and its first since the 2019 17-inning thriller at the SEC Tournament against LSU. The Diamond Dawgs have now won the last three extra innings games that they have played dating back to 2019.
The one-two punch of Rowdey Jordan and Allen continued to lead the MSU offense, while Logan Tanner provided the power. On the mound, the bullpen carried the night for MSU, as seven different arms pushed State through the final seven innings of the game.
Allen was 4-for-7 in the contest with two RBIs and three runs scored. Along with the heroic homer, Allen also doubled and chipped in a pair of singles. It is the third career walk-off hit for the left-handed hitter, with all three coming at The Dude: Southern Miss (2019), Tulane (2021) and Texas A&M (2021).
Jordan was on base three times in the game with two singles and one hit-by-pitch to move his reached base streak to 25 games. Tanner drove in three RBIs with one swing, as his eighth home run of the season made it a one-run game in the seventh. Scotty Dubrule chipped in two hits and Kamren James was on base four times with a single, two walks and one hit-by-pitch.
Brad Cumbest had just one hit in the game, but it was a clutch leadoff double to start the ninth inning, which he came around to score on Lane Forsythe’s sacrifice fly.
Landon Sims (3-0) picked up the win with three scoreless innings of relief work in which he piled up seven of Mississippi State’s 18 strikeouts. Of his nine outs, seven came via strikeout and the other two were infield groundouts. He walked one and did not allow a hit to earn his third victory of the season.
The 18 punchouts moved the consecutive games streak to 20 straight games with 10-or-more strikeouts. Along with Sims, Preston Johnson struck out four in two and one-third innings of relief work, Parker Stinnett fanned two, and Stone Simmons and Cam Tullar each fanned one batter.
Christian MacLeod went four innings in the start and allowed three runs – two earned – on seven hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three in the no decision. MacLeod set the tone as MSU walked only three batters to go along with the 18 punchouts.
Quotable
Head coach Chris Lemonis
On what he said to the team postgame
CL: You’re always happy when you win. It takes away a lot of the bad [that happens] during the game. I did challenge them, though. I didn’t think it was our best game in a lot of different areas. I didn’t think we pitched great until the end of the game. I don’t think we defended at a high level. We had some opportunities to maybe win that game early that we didn’t take advantage of. You have to tip your hat to those guys, I thought they really competed, but for our guys to stay engaged, stay in the moment [and] keep playing, I thought it was huge. We always have a tendency to keep playing.
On the team’s confidence in Tanner Allen
CL: When the game is on the line, you feel like he’s getting that hit every time. Right now, as he walks to the plate, and he came on with two outs early in the game, he made some things happen with big swings. He’s hot right now and he’s a really good hitter, so it’s been fun to watch him and all those guys in there. We’ve got some really good at-bats from the guys in the middle [of the lineup] lately.
On Landon Sims
CL: We felt like once he got past a certain point, it would be really hard for him to come out and throw again this weekend, so we decided to extend him and let him stay out there. As soon as he comes out our fans see it, our players see it, our coaches see it and it brings energy [to the ballpark]. He’s done it all year long [and] has had a lot of success. He’s a lot of fun to play behind.
Scoring Recap
Bottom First
Tanner Allen singled and advanced to second on a walk to Kamren James. Luke Hancock singled to push across the first run of the game.
Mississippi State 1, Texas A&M 0
Bottom Second
Rowdey Jordan singled to left field with two outs and Allen doubled to bring one in.
Mississippi State 2, Texas A&M 0
Top Fourth
Logan Britt and Bryce Blaum had back-to-back singles before advancing to second and third on the throw. The duo scored when Ty Coleman reached on an error. A single for Mikey Hoehner put runners on the corners before an RBI single by Ray Alejo gave TAMU the lead.
Texas A&M 3, Mississippi State 2
Bottom Fifth
Allen and James produced back-to-back singles before a ground out for Hancock tied the game for State.
Mississippi State 3, Texas A&M 3
Top Sixth
Hoehner reached on a fielder’s choice before stealing second and advancing to third on an error. An RBI single for Alejo pushed him across.
Texas A&M 4, Mississippi State 3
Top Seventh
Brett Minnich hit a solo home run to right field. Britt followed with a single and Blaum hit a two-run home run to left field.
Texas A&M 7, Mississippi State 3
Bottom Seventh
James walked and Hancock singled before Logan Tanner responded with a three run bomb to right field.
Texas A&M 7, Mississippi State 6
Bottom Ninth
Brad Cumbest doubled to left field to start the inning and advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on Lane Forsythe’s sacrifice fly to tie the game and take the game into extra innings.
Mississippi State 7, Texas A&M 7
Bottom Twelfth
Allen walked it off with a solo home run to right-center field.
Mississippi State 8, Texas A&M 7