SAN MARCOS, Texas — Texas State and Mississippi State entered Friday's doubleheader with both teams having won a game in the series within the state of Texas. That remained in tack following both games as the Bobcats won game one, 4-3, before the Bulldogs took the second game 6-2. 

"When you play a top-20 team in the country and get a split, you should probably be happy with it, but it would've been nice to get out of here with two today," said Texas State softball head coach Ricci Woodard. "One of the things we talked about (after the game) was not letting being 'good enough' be our energy, because we want to be great, so we can't be satisfied by winning only one of the two games."  

Mississippi State (7-2) struck first in the first game when Fa Leilua doubled to right-centerfield to drive in Mia Davidson from third base. The Bulldog lead was extended to three runs in the bottom of the fourth when Paige Cook and Christian Quinn had run-scoring hits in the inning. 

Texas State (3-2) began its comeback in the bottom half of the inning when Baylee Lemons hit a solo home run to left-centerfield. An inning later, Tara Oltmann tied the game with a two-run shot over the left-centerfield field. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning and the scored tied a 3-3, ArieAnn Bell doubled home Kylie George, who entered the game as a pinch runner during the inning, from second base. 

After Tori McCann (1-0) entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and held the Bulldog offense at bay, Jessica Mullins (1-2) took to the pitching circle and earned her first career save as she shut the door to give Texas State its first win over Mississippi State since Feb. 11, 2001 in Corpus Christi. 

Mullins returned to the circle to start the second game, but was replaced by McCann during Mississippi State's 6-run top of the fourth inning that snapped Mullins' streak of consecutive scoreless earned runs streak at 18.1 innings. The freshman was credited with three earned runs during the inning. 

Oltmann answered in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot to right-centerfield for her second home run of the day and third of the season. Cat Crenek capped the Bobcats' scoring in the bottom of the seventh when she singled home Hailey MacKay. 

Texas State returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 27 when it plays its second Southeastern Conference team this season as the Bobcats square off against Ole Miss at 1:30 p.m. TXST will conclude the day's action with a game against Sam Houston State at 3:30 p.m.