Mississippi State’s Ace Reese watches his home run against Georgia on Saturday.
MSU Athletics
ATHENS, Ga. – Mississippi State jumped out to a 7-0 lead but could not hold it as the home Georgia Bulldogs rallied to take a 13-12 victory in the first game of the Athens Super Regional on Saturday.
MSU went up 6-0 in the second inning with the big blow being a three-run home run by Reed Stallman. That was the first of many home runs during the game.
A solo shot by Kevin Milewski gave the visiting Bulldogs a 7-0 advantage in the fourth inning before Georgia became to make its comeback. The Bulldogs of the Peach State countered with five runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a 9-7 lead.
MSU showed it had some fight offensively with two runs in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the eighth, but Georgia had the final blow with a three-run homer in the eighth to provide the deciding margin.
There were 15 hits for Mississippi State with several hitters having big games. Ace Reese had three hits, including a home run and a double, while Milewski and Bryce Chance also contributing three hits each. Vytas Valincius had a pair of hits.
Milewski had a two home run day for MSU with Gehrig Frei, Ryder Woodson, Reese and Stallman got one each. The double by Reese was the only other extra base hit.
Mississippi State used five pitchers in the game as Jack Bauer, Ben Davis, Dane Burns and Maddox Webb followed the starter Tomas Valincius.
With their backs against the wall now, the Bulldogs of coach Brian O’Connor will have to win Sunday’s 11 a.m. game to keep their season alive. MSU will turn to Ryan McPherson for the start on the mound.