Cold spell continues for Bulldogs in second consecutive sweep

STARKVILLE – The bats for what was one of the best offenses in the country have gone colder than the Arctic. After another rough weekend, Mississippi State is searching for answers.

Tennessee knocked off No. 9 Mississippi State 7-2 to finish off back-to-back winless weekends at home for the Bulldogs. Mississippi State (26-10, 7-8 SEC) finished the weekend with nine runs in three games and just four in the final two.

“Our guys play hard, they compete and it’s just not coming their way right now,” MSU head coach Brian O’Connor said. “We control that as a program, and we've just got to hang in there, and it’ll come back around. We have no choice but to believe that, right? A lot of people in this scenario hit the panic button, and I understand that. But what good does that do us? That makes you tense up and play even more frustrated, and that doesn’t get a team anywhere.”

Since a 10-9 loss to open last weekend’s series against Georgia, Mississippi State hasn’t scored more than five runs in a game. The Bulldogs have lost all five SEC games in that span, and their shortcomings on offense have cost them. Sunday’s loss was the first one in that span by more than four runs, but it was closer than the final score suggested for most of the afternoon.

“That can make it more frustrating when it’s right there,” O’Connor said. “You look across this league, there are certain games on some weekends, teams are getting beat 10-2, 12-2. When you have so many one-run losses, it can be even more frustrating because you feel like you’re right there. That said, that’s a positive that we’re not letting games get out of control, we’re fighting back for the most part. But it just requires a little bit more that we’re not doing right now.”

Those offensive woes continued into Sunday. Mississippi State had just two runs on six hits while drawing zero walks and striking out eight times. The Bulldogs only drew two walks all weekend.

A two-run first inning for the Volunteers (24-12, 7-8) immediately put pressure on Mississippi State. But the Bulldogs didn’t have a hit until Aidan Teel’s leadoff single in the fourth. Teel came around to score on a Noah Sullivan ground out to cut the deficit in half, but Mississippi State was held scoreless after that until the seventh.

Trailing 4-1 in the seventh, Chone James doubled before scoring on a Reed Stallman single, cutting the deficit to 4-2. The Bulldogs had an opportunity to do more damage in the eighth after putting two runners on with one out, but they came up empty-handed.

That immediately came back to bite the Bulldogs. Tennessee plated three in the top of the ninth, and Mississippi State couldn’t avoid the sweep after that.

“There’s a little bit of a sense of frustration because we’re not getting the job done,” Mississippi State’s Bryce Chance said. “I had this conversation with (O’Connor) about (how) we’ve been in every game that we’ve lost. Obviously, that’s something that you can take pride in, but it’s also something that brings a lot of frustration. And it is super frustrating, but we’ve got to find a way to win games, and that’s just the bottom line.