Starkville, MS- It was a competitive game for a while, but a monster eighth inning from the Bulldog offense gave Mississippi State a 13-5 win over Binghamton.

Freshman Jack Walker made his 2nd start and 4th appearance of the season and struggled out of the gate. After a walk and a hit by a pitch, Binghamton 2nd baseman Cavan Tully knocked in a run with a single to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs responded in the bottom of the first as Hunter Hines knocked in 2 runs with a double, and Kellum Clark followed with an RBI single to take a 3-1 lead on Binghamton starter Justin Rosner. But the struggles continued to Walker in the 2nd. He surrendered a double and bunt single and loaded the bases with a walk. With two outs, Binghamton catcher Connor Aoki hit what seemed to be a routine fly ball, but Jess Davis couldn't track it, and all three runners scored, putting the Bearcats up 4-3.

Senior Brandon Smith replaced Walker and pitched two innings of shutout ball in the third and the fourth, allowing just one hit. The Bulldogs tied up the ballgame in the fourth as 2nd baseman R.J. Yeager, a transfer from Mercer, launched a solo homer to left off of Bearcat reliever Jack Collins, his first as a Bulldog.

Mississippi State brought in sophomore shortstop Lane Forsythe to pitch the fifth. Binghamton immediately got the run back as Connor Aoki hit a home run over the left-field wall. Forsythe settled in after that, getting out the next three batters, striking out one.

“Lane was really touted as a pitcher coming out of high school, we just didn’t have to use him last year,” said Head Coach Chris Lemonis.

Lefty Cam Tullar came in to pitch the sixth and got in some trouble allowing a pair of singles. With one out, Mississippi State turned to Drew Talley, and he brought them out of it with a flyout and a strikeout.

Binghamton brought in righty Alex Henderson to pitch the bottom of the sixth, and the Bulldogs put together a bit of a 2-out rally. Centerfielder Jess Davis, making his first start as a Bulldog after transferring from UAB, got on with a walk, and Kamren James hit a single. A pair of walks from Luke Hancock and Logan Tanner tied the ballgame up, but they couldn't get any more than that as Hunter Hines grounded out to end the inning.

Brooks Auger shut the Bearcats down in the top of the eighth, and Mississippi State poured it on in the bottom of the frame. Kamren James got a one-out walk and stole both 2nd and 3rd base. Luke Hancock followed with a walk of his own and stole 2nd to set up a 2-RBI single by Logan Tanner.

"I thought the stolen base of third by Kam was huge," said Chris Lemonis." When you play infield up on first and 3rd, it's a lot easier to run behind, so they gave us some opportunities there."

Binghamton made the switch to a lefty in Caden Rothbaum to face Hunter Hines, and the freshman from Madison Central blasted one over the right-field wall on the first pitch. After a walk and a hit batter, Binghamton brought in submarine pitcher Tanner Sinicki, and he allowed back-to-back home runs to R.J. Yeager and Tanner Leggett, which put the Bulldogs up 13-5.

The Bulldogs will begin SEC play this weekend as they'll travel to Athens to take on Georgia in a battle of the Bulldogs.