Box Score STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Samford baseball team dropped an 8-2 decision to fifth-ranked Mississippi State on the second day of the Diamond Classic Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.
 
Senior Zeth Stone and redshirt freshman Sam Few drove in one run each for Samford in the loss. Few, Austin Allison, Brandon Powell and Tommy Corbin had one hit each for Samford.
 
C.K. Irby (1-1) took the loss on the mound for Samford. Irby pitched two innings, giving up six runs on seven hits and striking out two batters to take the loss.
 
For Mississippi State, Adam Frazier went 3-for-4 at the plate. Hunter Renfroe drove in two runs in a 1-for-2 performance. Nick Flair, C.T. Bradford, Jacob Robson, Alex Detz and Brett Pirtle drove in a run each for MSU.
 
Mississippi State's Ross Mitchell pitched six innings in relief, giving up one run on four hits to earn the win. Evan Mitchell started the game on the mound for MSU, pitching three innings, giving up one run.
 
Mississippi State jumped out to an early lead, plating three runs in each of the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead. In the first inning, Bradford, Detz and Pirtle drove in a run each. In the second inning, Renfroe and Robson drove in a run each for a six-run MSU lead.
 
Samford put its first run on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. Frankie Navarrete reached base on a fielder's choice, and later scored from third base when Stone grounded out to second base to cut the MSU lead to 6-1.
 
Mississippi State added a run in the fourth inning to make the score 7-1. With one out in the inning, Renfroe hit a solo home run for MSU's seventh run of the contest.
 
The home Bulldogs plated one more run in the seventh inning to push their lead to 8-1. Flair singled through the left side of the infield, driving in Detz for a seven-run Mississippi State lead.
 
Samford plated one final run in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 8-2. Allison singled to right-center field and later scored on a single by Few. The hit and RBI for Few were the first of his college career.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 4-3 on the young season. Mississippi State improves to 7-0 with the win.
 
Samford will conclude the Diamond Classic by playing two games on Sunday. The Bulldogs will take on Purdue at 11 a.m. and Mississippi State at 3 p.m. The Mississippi State game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Live Stats for both games will be available at www.hailstate.com.