No. 1 Tennessee baseball completes sweep of Mississippi State; pair of Bulldogs injured in loss

STARKVILLE – A season filled with ugly, disheartening moments for Mississippi State baseball (26-30, 9-21 SEC) ended Saturday afternoon with a 10-5 loss against No. 1 Tennessee (49-7, 25-5).

And it started with a pop fly into left field.

MSU shortstop Lane Forsythe went back on it while left fielder Brad Cumbest sprinted in. The two collided as the ball dropped to the Dudy Noble Field grass.

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Forsythe sprung up quickly, but Cumbest remained on the ground. As he slowly gathered himself and rose to his feet, he remained holding his jaw.

While Cumbest made his way toward the dugout — with Tennessee leading 2-1 — the attention turned to starting pitcher Cade Smith. Coach Chris Lemonis and a trainer walked out to the mound and immediately removed Smith from the game.

Less than 20 minutes after MSU’s RJ Yeager led off the game with his team-leading 18th home run, State was without two key players and Tennessee had captured all momentum needed to complete a series sweep.

The Vols scored in each inning from the second to the sixth, putting away the SEC’s last-place team — a team fresh off a national championship.

Tennessee’s season continues as the top seed in next week’s SEC Tournament. Mississippi State’s ends with a long offseason ahead for Lemonis.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.