Mississippi State fell way behind early Sunday and wound up losing 12-6 to Vanderbilt.

It was a disappointing end to the first Southeastern Conference series of the season, but the rest of the weekend more than made up for it.

The Bulldogs (14-6-1, 2-1 SEC) took the first two games of the series for their first series win in Nashville since 2002. They had lost 12 out of 13 games in four series at Vanderbilt since then.

After scratching out a pair of one-run wins, the Bulldogs got waylaid early Sunday.

No. 2 Vanderbilt (17-3, 1-2) scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning, then batted around and scored five runs in the third to take an 8-1 lead.

Jason Delay had a two-run single in the first inning and finished 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs. Penn Murfee drove in two runs for Vandy, while Jeren Kendall went 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored.

Vanderbilt had 15 hits and scored five runs in the first two games of the series. It had 14 hits and 12 runs on Sunday.

“A lot of our offense was slowed down by their pitching. You’ve got to give them credit. Guys like (Dakota) Hudson and (Austin) Sexton are proven guys,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “There’s a reason why you don’t hit sometimes, and they had a lot to do with that. But the response today against a very good left-handed pitcher was very good.”

Mississippi State did manage to crawl out of the big hole. Jake Mangum had a two-run single in the fourth inning, Ryan Gridley an RBI double in the fifth, and Hunter Stovall an RBI single in the sixth to cut it to 8-6.

Vandy, however, scored one run in the seventh and three more in the eighth to gain some space.

“We were able to widen the game toward the end, but it never felt that way. It felt like a close game the whole time,” Corbin said.

Patrick Raby struck out three batters in 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn his first save of the season for the Commodores.

Kyle Wright (4-0) started and pitched five innings for the win.

Mississippi State starter Daniel Brown (2-1) took the loss. He was shelled for eight runs, five earned, on nine hits in only 2 2/3 innings.

Mangum and Reid Humphreys each went 2-for-5 at the plate for the Bulldogs. Mangum had two RBIs and scored a run, while Humphreys scored twice, doubled twice and drove in one run.

Ole Miss 10, Tennessee 7

Ole Miss totaled 15 hits, with most of those coming in the clutch. They were 11-for-25 with runners on base, and 8-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Ole Miss hit five doubles in the game. Golsan, Lartigue and J.B. Woodman each drove in two runs.

The Rebels led 3-2 after four innings, then blew it open with five runs in the fifth.

After the first two batters of the inning reached base, Lartigue knocked them in with a double to deep center field. Ryan Olenek and Golsan added RBI singles, while Woodman produced a sac fly to bring another run across the plate. The big inning put Ole Miss ahead 8-2.

Tennessee (12-7, 1-2) scored four times in the seventh inning — three runs came in on a home run by Jordan Rodgers — and one in the ninth to make things interesting, but never brought the tying run to the plate.

Rodgers finished the game with four RBIs. Chris Hall, Leno Ramirez, Tyler Schultz and Derek Lance had two hits apiece for the Volunteers.

Ole Miss reliever Andy Pagnozzi (4-0) allowed three runs in three innings, but still got the win. He walked one, struck out one, and allowed four hits.

Steven Kane (0-2), the second of five pitchers used by Tennessee, got the loss, He allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings.

LSU 7, Alabama 5

LSU used a six-run eighth inning to defeat Alabama and take the final game of a Southeastern Conference baseball series Sunday afternoon in Baton Rouge.

Kramer Robertson’s RBI single gave LSU a 5-4 lead, and Beau Jordan brought in two insurance runs with a two-run single. Brody Wofford also singled in two runs earlier in the inning for LSU (14-5, 1-2 SEC).

JChandler Taylor homered for Alabama (13-6, 2-1), which swept a doubleheader on Saturday to win the series.