From staff reports

Mississippi State’s return to the Southeastern Conference Tournament was short-lived.

Arkansas used a four-run first inning and some sharp pitching from D.J. Baxendale and Barrett Astin to beat Mississippi State 7-2 in an elimination game Thursday morning in Hoover, Ala.

Mississippi State, which played its first game at noon on Wednesday, was knocked out of the eight-team field in less than 24 hours. The Bulldogs went 0-2 in the tournament and have not won a game in two appearances in Hoover since claiming the tournament championship in 2005. They’ll now have to wait until Monday to find out if their 34-23 record is good enough to make the 64-team NCAA Tournament field.

“I like our chances,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “We have played well enough this year to deserve a spot. I feel like if our kids get in a tournament, we have a chance to win some games. We have a chance to win a regional.”

Arkansas (37-19) advanced to another elimination game today at 3 p.m. against Alabama. Against Mississippi State, the Razorbacks got off to a good start and never looked back. They scored four runs in the top of the first, with the help of a walk, two wild pitches and two errors by Mississippi State. James McCann also had an RBI single, part of a 4-for-5, two-RBI day.

It was eerily similar to the inning that doomed the Bulldogs in their opener Wednesday against Florida, when a walk and a hit batter led to a game-changing grand slam.

“The first inning wasn’t our best,” Cohen said. “We got behind a lot on the mound. It seemed like they had a lot of hits at the same spot on the right side. Take that inning aside, I think we play OK.”

Mississippi State hit into three double plays and struggled to take advantage of what opportunities it did have. Baxendale (9-2) allowed two runs in five innings, walked two and struck out three. Astin relieved him to start the sixth and went the rest of the way, allowing just two hits in four innings. Astin struck out four and walked none.

“I really didn’t have my best stuff today, but we got some big double play balls. The defense made a lot of plays behind me and it’s real easy when you have confidence in your defense,” Baxendale said. “The double plays were huge for us. Most of them came in situations where it could have broken the game out, but Tim (Carver) and Bo (Bigham) made quick turns on all of them. It helped me get out of some of the tougher innings.”