No. 9 Texas faced No. 7 Mississippi State on Saturday in the inaugural State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
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Unfortunately for the Longhorns, David Pierce’s team wasn’t able to begin the year on the right foot. Texas dropped their season opener to the Bulldogs by a score of 8-3.
This was the first time that the two programs faced off against each other since Texas beat Mississippi State in the 1985 College World Series. The Bulldogs got their payback this time around, as the Longhorns struggled to get their bats going and struck out 18 times on the day.
Both teams combined for 28 strikeouts, but Mississippi State relief pitcher Landon Sims absolutely dominated for four innings. He retired all 12 batters that he faced (10 strikeouts).
Texas seemingly got off to a hot start with ace pitcher Ty Madden striking out all three batters that he faced in the top half of the first inning, but Mississippi State had a two-out rally in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Ivan Melendez was one of the lone bright spots at the plate for the Longhorns. He crushed a home run over the left field fence line in the fifth inning and hit an RBI double in the ninth.
View the full box score here.