BULLDOG BITS

Men's Golf

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mississippi State men's golf freshman Ford Clegg shot a season-best 66 in round two Saturday afternoon to put himself among the top players in the field at the Florida Gators Invitational.

Clegg, tied for sixth at 1-under-par going into today's final round, was State's best player Saturday. The Bulldogs collectively shot 22-over through two rounds of play, to sit 11th at the par-70, 6,701-yard Mark Bostick Golf Course.

State was balanced by strong individual rounds. Junior Peng Pichaikool shot an even 70 in round one, while Clegg and junior Garrett Johnson (70) carried MSU in the afternoon. Senior Ross Bell did not play due to a stomach bug.

The Bulldogs will look to move up in the final round today, as they begin play at 7:45 a.m. at the 10th hole. Live results will be available via Golfstat.com.

Men's Tennis

CHICAGO – A valiant doubles point and a top-30 win by senior Nuno Borges was not quite enough for the No. 3 Mississippi State men's tennis team on Saturday, as the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 4-1 decision to No. 9 Baylor at the 2019 ITA National Team Indoor Championship, a match that was much closer than the final score indicated.

MSU (6-2) had the Bears (9-1) on the ropes multiple times in the doubles point before Baylor took the early lead, while Borges put the Bulldogs on the board early in singles with a quick straight-set win.

The doubles point was once again tightly contested, with the Bulldogs and Bears taking wins on courts 2 and 3, respectively, to set up a highly-billed showdown for the clincher on court

1. Baylor earned an early advantage by taking a 6-2 decision against MSU'S Trevor Foshey and Gregor Ramskogler, handing the duo its first loss in 2018-19. State's sixth-ranked Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini then evened things up, notching a 6-2 win over Baylor's Will Little and Johannes Schretter at No.

2. Much like Friday, an epic tiebreaker at court 1 was to decide who would take the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.

There, MSU'S 34th-ranked Borges and Strahinja Rakic did not back down against the Bears second-ranked tandem of Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah, battling back from a break down three times, and saved four match points, to go up 6-5 and serve for the match. Bendeck and Lah then broke Borges and Rakic at 15-40 to force the tiebreaker. In the breaker, both sides held serve well before Baylor eventually got a mini-break to go up 6-5 and then serve it out to give Baylor an early 1-0 lead. The decision halted MSU'S Ncaa-best 18-match streak of winning the doubles point.

State knotted the match up at 1-all rather quickly in singles, with the fifth-ranked Borges taking a 6-3, 6-3 victory against BU'S 29th-ranked Schretter on court 1. With the victory, Borges moved into a tie for fifth all-time at MSU in career singles victories (97).

Later, Baylor reclaimed the lead at 2-1 when No. 28 Little rallied to upend State's Rakic in a tightly-contested 7-5, 6-3 decision on court 3. With the match still very much hanging in the balance, the Bulldogs and Bears were engaged in extremely tight battles on courts 2, 4, 5 and 6, with all but court 5 going to a third set.

At No. 5, the Bulldogs' 98th-ranked Foshey dropped a nail-biting 6-4, 7-6(5) outcome to Bear Adrian Boitan, moments before Matias Soto completed an upset of State's 66th-ranked Oradini 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 on court 2 to clinch the match for Baylor.

At the clinch, MSU'S 64th-ranked Braun trailed Baylor's Lah, 6-5 on serve in the third at No. 4, while Bulldog Florian Broska was down 2-1 on serve to the Bears' Bendeck on court 6.

Softball

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Trailing 3-0, Mississippi State softball strung together a phenomenal two-out rally in the second inning to plate 10 runs en route to top Central Florida 11-3 in five innings Saturday at Nancy Almaraz Field.

With two outs, MSU (6-3) tallied nine consecutive hits to plate nine of its 10 runs scored in the second inning. Every Bulldog hitter in the lineup recorded a hit in the second inning, led by senior outfielder Kat Moore who tripled and then later knocked her first home run of the game.

State's 10 runs were the most ever scored in an inning at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge since Nevada tallied 11 against Southern Illinois on Feb. 28, 2019.

Sophomore catcher Mia Davidson led State at the plate as she went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run score. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, Davidson recorded the walkoff hit by pitch to secure the game.

Junior pitcher Alyssa Loza picked up the win to improve to 2-1. In the complete game performance, Loza allowed three runs, one earned, off five hits, a walk and hit by pitch. She struck out three in the contest.

Women's Tennis

Mississippi State's women's tennis team closed out a sevenmatch homestand on Saturday, ousting North Alabama in 7-0 and 4-0 sweeps. The Bulldogs improve to 9-2 for the year, and have now won 37 straight non-conference wins at home.

The Bulldogs earned their third 7-0 sweep of the season, starting the day by clinching the doubles point with victories on courts 1 and 3. At the top spot, Magda Adaloglou and Tamara Racine earned the first victory of the day against Payton Andrews and Claudia Arroyo in a 6-0 affair. Janina Braun and Sara Lizariturry clinched the doubles points for State by toppling North Alabama's Nele Seitz and Sydney Flesch 6-2 on court 3.

In singles action, State picked up six swift victories to improve to 8-2 for the season. State's Racine earned the first triumph, downing Flesch 6-1, 6-1 on at No. 4. On court 6, the Bulldogs' Braun earned a 6-2, 6-0 decision over Elise Sickle. Clinching the match for MSU, 82nd-ranked Emma Antonaki ousted North Alabama's Andrews 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 2 position.

Sealing the sweep for State, Lizariturry battled back after dropping the second set to win the match in a super-tiebreaker 6-2, 4-6, 1-0(3).

State capitalized early on the second match of the day as well, clinching the doubles point to take the 1-0 edge. On the top court, the Bulldogs' Adaloglou and Racine downed Humphreys and Sickle 6-1. Providing the clincher, MSU'S Antonaki and Rentouli toppled Arroyo and Andrews in a 6-3 decision on court 2.

In singles, State solidified the doubleheader sweep with straight-set wins on courts 1, 2 and 4. On the top court, the 98th-ranked Adaloglou registered a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over North Alabama's Andrews, while State's Racine picked up a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Lions' Seitz at No. 4. Earning the clinching victory, the Bulldogs' 82nd-ranked Antonaki ousted Arroyo 6-3, 6-0 on court 2.