Mississippi State falls in extras at Georgia

Mississippi State baseball’s season came to an end on Sunday afternoon after a long, hard-fought two game stay in Athens. Georgia advanced to Omaha for the College World Series after two instant classic wins over State.

Georgia began each of the first five innings with its leadoff man getting on base, and scored at least one run each of those innings as well. They chased Mississippi State starter Ryan McPherson out of the game after just 1.1 innings pitched and forced projected Game Three starter Duke Stone into action.

Rylan Lujo got the Bulldogs on the board with a sacrifice flyball in the first inning, followed by an RBI groundout from Ryan Wynn. It wasn’t the worst-case scenario in the first inning, but two runs from a solo home run and a walk made it 4-0 after two. Kevin Milewski gave MSU hope with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second, but the offensive production ground to a halt for State after that.

There was even an opportunity to chase Caden Aoki out of the game, but MSU’s batters couldn’t figure him out into the middle innings as UGA kept adding to the tally.

Georgia led 7-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, finally held to their first scoreless inning at the plate, with Aoki breaking the 100-pitch barrier and Vytas Valincius getting one back on a solo home run. Georgia head coach Wes Johnson kept Aoki in the game up to 121 pitches, giving up three more baserunners and an RBI base hit before going to the bullpen. At 7-4, Georgia turned to Zach Brown for the final out.

A solo shot added one more for Georgia, and they needed it. State’s order took Brown deep on three straight at-bats, with Ace Reese, Noah Sullivan and Jacob Parker each launching no-doubters to make it a one-run ballgame.

Johnson turned to Matt Scott, the closer from Saturday, to steady the game late. He got UGA out of the inning but faced the top of the order again in the eighth. Ace Reese got aboard with a double, and Jacob Parker launched his second no-doubter to make it 9-8 State.

The late push wouldn’t have been possible without a steady eighth inning on the mound from Tyler Pitzer, and he came back out in the ninth just three outs away from forcing a Game Three. Kenny Ishikaway drew a walk to get aboard for Georgia, and advanced to scoring position on a groundout the next at-bat. He would get home on an RBI base hit to tie the game at 9-9.

The Bulldogs had a chance to walk it off, but went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. In the 10th, UGA re-took the lead. Daniel Jackson launched a no-doubt home run of his own after Tre Phelps reached on a fielding error, giving Georgia an 11-9 lead and knocking Pitzer out.

The Bulldogs were down to their last three outs to keep the season alive. Bryce Chance drew a leadoff walk in the nine-hole to send it back to the top of the order with a runner aboard, but Frei and Reese went down to put the season on the verge. Parker stepped up to try and produce another magic moment, but went down swinging on strike three to end the season.

Two long, taxing games in Athens brought the season to a close for Mississippi State one stop short of Omaha.