Mississippi State entered the 2012 SEC Baseball Tournament as one of the hottest teams in the league, having swept Kentucky out of a chance at the overall regular season title this past weekend. They didn't slow down, defeating Arkansas 9-1 on Tuesday afternoon in the first round.
State sealed the game with a nearly half-hour long top of the ninth, scoring six runs to erase all doubt. MSU started the scoring on a Wes Rea three-run homer in the top of the second, but Arkansas cut the lead with a two-out RBI single from Matt Vinson, before State would blow open the ninth inning on two Arkansas throwing errors.
The No. 7 seeded Bulldogs will now advance to play No. 1 overall seed LSU on Wednesday (1 p.m. ET, Sports South). The winner of that game will face No. 4 seed Kentucky, who defeated Ole Miss 2-0 in the first game of the day on Tuesday.
For more on the SEC baseball tournament stay tuned to this Storystream and SB Nation's SEC blog Team Speed Kills.
