No. 17 Bulldogs Drop Late Lead to No. 9 Florida

STARKVILLE – After back-to-back games that saw No. 17 Mississippi State needing a late-game rally to win, Saturday’s game reversed that role with No. 9 Florida.

The Gators (31-5, 7-2 SEC) found themselves trailing 6-4 to start the seventh, and final inning and scored three runs, but the Bulldogs (25-9, 6-6 SEC) still had a chance to steal back the win.

Sierra Sacco hit a one-out single to left field and, after Nadia Barbary’s line out, one of the SEC’s hottest batters, Madisyn Kennedy, came to the plate. Kennedy represented the tying run, but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, flying out to left field and the Gators left Starkville with a 7-6 win.

The Bulldogs didn’t have much trouble getting on base with 11 hits and four walks in 30 total at-bats. But the Bulldogs left 12 runners on base while Florida left only five.

“Against a team like that, every run matters," MSU coach Samantha Ricketts said. "We had a couple of chances to really break it open early, and I thought we let them off the hook. Especially when they're pitching around Madi [Kennedy] most of the game, we need to make sure that we're capitalizing when we have runners in scoring position in the middle of our lineup."

MSU did a good job capitalizing on its scoring opportunities to start the game. Salen Hawkins got the Bulldogs on the scoreboard first with RBI single in the second inning and Sacco drew a bases-load walk to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Hawkins extended MSU’s lead in the third with a sacrifice fly and Paige Cook hit her own sac fly in the fourth to build their lead to 6-2.

But then, after having to defend against a late-game rally, the Gators began to mount their own comeback.

The Gators scored twice in the fifth inning on a sac fly and fielder’s choice, cutting MSU’s lead to 6-4. In the seventh, the reigning SEC Player of the Year Skylar Wallace hit a one-run triple and Jocelyn Erickson’s two-run home run later in the inning proved to be the game-winning swing.

Aspen Wesley (9-3) pitched a valiant effort against the Gators, holding them to just four hits and two runs in the first four innings. She ended the complete game performance with six earned runs on eight hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.

"Aspen [Wesley] pitched a great game,” Ella Wesolowski said after the game. “I mean in the end, we as a team have to have her back too. She's just amazing.”

MSU returns to action with a midweek road trip UAB (14-20, 5-7 AAC) on Wednesday. The game will air on ESPN+.