The long ball was not enough to push the Missouri Tigers to a win against the No. 16 Mississippi State Bulldogs.

A three homer game gave the Tigers all of their runs and pushed them to a close game, but they couldn’t complete the comeback. Missouri dropped their third SEC game in a row, this one a 4-3 loss to Mississippi State. This loss officially eliminates the Tigers from a trip to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.

A solo home run in the second inning and a triple followed by a groundout in the third put Missouri down by two. Missouri would already have to fight from behind if they wanted a chance in the game.

The Tigers comeback was already mounting in the fourth inning when they brought themselves within one run. A solo shot from junior first baseman Danny Corona kicked off the scoring for Missouri.

Mississippi State wasn’t going to make it easy on the Tigers, however. They got one run back in the fifth inning with a solo shot of their own to bring the difference back to two runs.

But Missouri didn’t seem content with that. They kicked off the sixth inning with back-to-back solo home runs from senior third baseman Trevor Austin and sophomore centerfielder Jackson Lovich. Despite being down initially, the Tigers had came back to tie the game and give themselves a chance.

But it didn’t last for long. Mississippi State retook the lead in the bottom half of the sixth after a walk, stolen base and a double pushed a runner across. This ended up being the deciding run for the game, as Missouri’s offense failed to bring another run across.

Missouri decided to send out junior right-hander Kaden Jacobi for his first start of his career in this game. He would do it against the No. 16 team in the country. Considering his opponents, he had quite a good start. He tossed three innings, giving up two runs on three hits. His main struggle came with the extra-base hits, such as the home run in the second inning and the triple in the third.

Jacobi was relieved by senior left-hander Ian Lohse in the fourth. He needed to keep the Tigers in the game and keep the Bulldogs from scoring, but gave up the go-ahead run in the sixth. Lohse threw three innings himself, with two runs on two hits. Junior Victor Quinn entered in the seventh.

Missouri attempted to put graduate Jacob Peaden into the game to pitch in the seventh inning, but he was removed by the umpires after one pitch. It was said that Peaden could not pitch since he was not on the 27-man roster for the weekend. Another oddity for the Tigers squad was Lovich donning number 29 on his jersey, which belongs to junior Cameron Benson, instead of his usual 18.

Missouri’s record drops to 22-31 on the season and 8-20 in SEC play, while Mississippi State improves to 35-18 and 16-12. The Tigers will take the field for game two at 6 p.m. CT on Friday.

MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) – A design feature other states have used to help alleviate traffic concerns at busy intersections could soon be used in Madison County.

The feature is called a “Green T,” and engineers are drawing up plans to incorporate one at Mississippi 463 and Stribling Road.

Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons discussed plans at a recent Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting.

He said design work was underway but didn’t say when plans would be completed or how much the work would cost.

“Hopefully, we will be able to put that in place and it will give you some relief, but it’s not going to give you the relief that you need,” he said. “We just keep looking at ways to be able to enhance [463] but widening is not an option at this point.”

With a Green T, the intersection would be redesigned to better accommodate vehicles turning on and off Stribling Road, while also allowing a continuous flow of southbound traffic on 463.

“We looked at other states and they seem to help flow traffic in a situation like that. So, we’re going to try that in Madison,” he said. “That’s the first one we’re going to put in the state.”

Click here to see a video from the Indiana Department of Transportation showing how the intersections work.

463 is one of the busiest east-west corridors in Madison County, with about 4,700 vehicles traveling it each day near Stribling Road, according to the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s website.

A traffic study released by Kiser Traffic and Engineering in October 2023 showed both Stribling Road and Stribling Road Extension were over capacity, with the roads averaging 12,000 and 8,600 vehicles a day respectively.

State and county officials have been grappling with how to address traffic congestion in those areas for years.

Kiser’s report last year recommended widening Stribling to five lanes. Simmons believes the congestion will be alleviated once the Reunion Interchange is completed, giving residents another way to get to the interstate.

Simmons, meanwhile, says widening 463, a state highway, is off the table. “The closeness of homes and businesses that are located right next to the right-of-way, we don’t have any way of expanding it other than to buy up a lot of property and have folks move,” Simmons said. “That would not be a good play for us.”

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