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Mississippi State baseball season ended by Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Mississippi State baseball season ended in gut-wrenching fashion.
The No. 3 seed Bulldogs (36-23) allowed five runs in the final two innings to lose 5-2 to No. 1 Florida State (41-14) in the Tallahassee Regional final on June 1 at Dick Howser Stadium.
MSU led from the very first pitch until the seventh inning when Cal Fischer smashed a two-run home run to tie the game at 2-2. The Seminoles took the lead in the eighth inning off a single by Max Williams that drove in two runs.
Florida State coach Link Jarrett was ejected in the second inning
Tempers flared in the second inning that resulted in FSU coach Link Jarrett getting ejected.
In the top of the inning, FSU starting pitcher Wes Mendes stared down MSU’s Ross Highfill after a strikeout. Then in the bottom of the inning, after Karson Ligon got a strike out to end it, he shouted something toward the Florida State batter and started flexing. Florida State players began shouting back. The benches never cleared, but Jarrett stormed onto the field and got into an argument with home plate umpire Joe Burleson. Jarrett was ejected after a couple minutes of arguing.
Ligon was booed heavily by the Florida State crowd when he came back to the mound in the third inning. The Seminoles loaded the bases with two outs, but Ligon got out of it with a groundout.
Ligon escaped a bases-loaded jam again in the fourth inning by striking out ACC Player of the Year Alex Lodise.
He was showered with boos one last time when he was pulled from the game with no outs in the fourth inning.
Gehrig Frei sparked Mississippi State immediately
Frei batted 3-for-4 earlier in the day against Northeastern and wasted no time making an impact against Florida State.
The left fielder sent the very first pitch of the game from Wes Mendes off the scoreboard for a leadoff home run. Five of his eight home runs this season have been leading off games.
A solo home run by catcher Joe Powell in the fifth inning extended MSU’s lead to 2-0.
Mississippi State pitching stranded Florida State on the bases to stay in the game
MSU’s pitching wasn’t perfect, but stranded 15 batters to keep it in the game.
Ligon allowed four hits and five walks, but struck out seven batters with no runs allowed. Luke Dotson provided three innings after that but allowed the home run to Fisher. Freshman Ryan McPherson replaced Dotson after a leadoff walk in the eighth inning and was charged with two runs in the eighth inning.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.