STARKVILLE, Miss. (KFSM)–The pitching matchup of Blaine Knight and Konnor Pilkington was one sided. Arkansas jumped on the Bulldogs ace early with four runs, but things changed once the bullpens got involved.
Mississippi State (20-19, 6-10) held on for a comeback 6-5 win over No. 3 Arkansas (28-11, 10-6).
In the sixth inning, Luke Alexander delivered a three run home run off Blaine Knight. A couple batters later, Dave Van Horn turned the game over to reliable closer Matt Cronin. But in the eighth inning, Jordan Westburg knocked in two runs off Cronin to tie the game at 5, before Jake Reindl allowed the go ahead single to Elijah MacNamee.
Besides Eric Cole’s second inning grand slam and Dominic Fletcher’s fifth inning sac fly, the Hogs couldn’t touch JP France. Mississippi State’s reliever threw four scoreless innings and struck out nine Razorbacks to seal the win.
Due to thunderstorms expected on Sunday, the Hogs and Dogs play a doubleheader on Saturday. Game one begins at Noon and the second game follows 45 minutes later. Both games will play nine innings.
For a complete look at the Diamond Hogs schedule, click here.
