No. 2 Diamond Dawgs Walks-Off Eastern Michigan on

Dawgs walk off for the third time in 2021 on Tanner’s blast to left centre against Eastern Michigan

By Greg Campbell

Mississippi State

STARKVILLE – On a beautiful afternoon at Dudy Noble Field, the No. 2 Mississippi State Bulldogs provided some theatrics with their third walk-off win of the season in a 4-1 victory over Eastern Michigan Eagles. The Dawgs trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning before Logan Tanner’s three-run blast sent The Dude into a frenzy.

A fourth-inning solo home run by Eastern Michigan’s Taylor Hopkins accounted for the only run of the game before Mississippi State (12-3) came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.

Eric Cerantola (Oakville, Ont.) threw a career-high-tying five innings in the start and allowed the only EMU run of the game on the homer. In his 60-pitch outing he threw 42 pitches (70%). He struck out five batters in the no decision. Preston Johnson and Cam Tullar combined for a scoreless sixth inning.

A single and hit-by-pitch started the inning, before Luke Hancock’s RBI single tied the game. That ended a strong outing for EMU (4-4) starting pitcher Justin Meis, and Tanner greeted reliever Cameron Wagoner with a first-pitch, three-run home run to left-centre field.

Tanner’s blast accounted for his first home run of the season and his first career walk-off hit. The second-year freshman walked in the second inning and then provided the heroics on the first pitch he saw from the right-handed reliever in the ninth inning.

Hancock was on base three times, as he reached via error twice and drove in the game-tying RBI with his ninth-inning base hit.

Junior Tanner Allen moved his hitting streak to 12 games and his reached streak to 15 games with a pair of base hits, including the hit that broke up the no-hitter in the sixth and the rally starter in the ninth inning. Kamren James was on base twice with a walk in the fourth and a hit-by-pitch in the ninth.