SEC Tournament Recap - (9) Kentucky 7, #18 (5) Mississippi State 6, 5/22/14

After winning the first two games of the 2014 SEC Tournament, Mississippi State looked to make it to the semifinals undefeated, but dropped a thriller to Kentucky, 7-6.

Ross Mitchell started for the Bulldogs and looked like he was having a good game before the 6th inning. Although he struck out none, he gave up just one run before the Wildcats scored three in the 6th and Mitchell was replaced by Ben Bracewell. Bracewell struck out one in 1 inning. Jonathan Holder replaced Bracewell and continued to pitch well. He struck out five and gave up one run in 4 innings pitched. Myles Gentry came in for Holder and faced two batters before getting replaced by Preston Brown. Brown struck out one and gave up a run in 1/3 innings and Vance Tatum finished the job for the Bulldogs and pitched 2/3 innings. It was not good day for Bulldog pitching.

Hitting, on the other hand, shined bright for MSU. The Bulldog bat of the day was Gavin Collins, who went 4-5 with an RBI. Seth Heck went 2-5, scoring two runs and getting an RBI, and Cody Brown went 2-5 with an RBI.

Gavin Collins Went 4-5 With an RBI in Mississippi State's 7-6 Loss to Kentucky

The reason why this game will be remembered - its length. This game started at 8:00 PM on May 22nd and ended past 12:30 AM on May 23rd, although it just lasted 12 innings. After 3 scoreless innings, Mississippi State got on the board first with Brett Pirtle scoring off of a wild pitch. In the 5th, Seth heck hit an RBI single that scored C.T. Bradford and Cody Brown got an RBI single, scoring Seth Heck and giving the Bulldogs the 2-0 advantage. In the 6th, MSU got on the board again with a sac fly by Jake Vickerson, scoring Wes Rea. In the bottom of the 6th, Kentucky finally scored with an RBI double, a sac fly, and an RBI single, tying the game at 3. In the 7th, the Bulldogs took the lead off of a groundout double play by Demarcus Henderson that scored Seth Heck. In the 8th, Kentucky struck back with a groundout of their own, tying it at 5. In the 9th, the Bulldogs took the lead back with a Gavin Collins single that scored Brett Pirtle, but Kentucky sent the game into extras with a sac fly. After no runs in the 10th and 11th, Kentucky clinched the victory because of a bases loaded RBI single, winning the ballgame 7-6.

Mississippi State drops to 37-21 and looks to bounce back against SEC regular season champions, Florida, at 6:30 PM on CSS and ESPN3.