State Farm Showdown Day 3: The Lone Star Squads are Down Bad
It was a good day to be a visitor on Monday, as every visiting team won, outscoring the three Texas teams by a combined score of 23-7. Time to check out(literally; it was the last day of the tournament) Monday's games.
#7 Mississippi State 11, #3 Texas Tech 5
The Raiders were seeing red on Monday, as they finished the weekend with a third straight loss. It was actually a pretty back and forth game, with both teams trading runs for a 5-5 tie after six. Brad Cumbest kicked off scoring for the Bulldogs with a single into center to score Luke Hancock, while Braxton Fulford put Texas Tech on the board with a double to left that scored Jace Jung. After a brief lead for Texas Tech, Mississippi State took the lead for the final time on a Luke Hancock two-run blast. While Texas Tech was able to retie the game on a fielder's choice in the sixth that scored Drew Neuse, the Bulldogs put a run on in the eighth when Scotty Dubrule scored Logan Tanner, and then put a five-spot on the board in the ninth with a triple by Rowdey Jordan to score Drew McGowan, followed by RBI singles by Kamren James, Josh Hatcher, and Hancock.
Carlisle Koestler(1-0) got the win, while Jamie Hitt (0-1) took the loss.
#6 Ole Miss 8, # 9 Texas 1
Derek Diamond stayed true to his name on Monday, giving up just one run in six innings of work while striking out eight. On the offensive side, Jacob Gonzalez opened scoring for the Rebels with a sacrifice fly to score Peyton Chatagnier. Texas scored a run of its own with a Cam Williams solo home run in the fifth, but that would be the only offensive that the Longhorns would get as Ole Miss quickly wrangled them up to prevent further scoring. Other offense for Ole Miss came with a Kevin Graham RBI single in the sixth to score Chatagnier that was soon followed by an RBI sac fly by Hayden Dunhurst to score Jacob Gonzalez and a Justin Bench single to knock in Tim Elko and Kevin Graham. In the ninth, Tyler LaFleur hit a solo homer to make it a 6-1 game, followed by an RBI triple for Gonzales to knock in Garrett Wood and finally an RBI groundout by Graham to score Gonzalez.
Diamond (1-0) got the win, while Kolby Kubicheck (0-1) took the loss.
#8 Arkansas 4, #10 TCU 1
It was late-game heroics this time for the Hogs, as they scored two runs each in the eighth and ninth innings to finish the State Farm Showdown with a perfect 3-0 record. TCU struck first, scoring their first and only run of the game on a Luke Boyer RBI single to score Zach Humphreys in the second. After seven innings of, well, not a whole lot, Arkansas opened the eighth with a Christian Franklin triple to score Jalen Battles. The very next batter, the tables were turned as Cullen Smith singled in Franklin to make the score 2-1 in Arkansas' favor. In the ninth, Brady Slavens scored on a double to center by Casey Opitz, who then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1.
Ryan Costeiu(1-0) got the win, while Charles King (0-1) got the loss.