The Tennessee Lady Vols young pitching staff struggled on Sunday against Mississippi State, losing 10-6.

All three pitchers made appearances in the attempt of containing the Lady Bulldogs hot bats but were mostly unsuccessful.

Mississippi State scored in six of the seven innings including a five-run sixth inning to take the lead for good.

Tennessee's Erin Webb hit a two-run homerun in the fifth inning to give the Lady Vols a two-run lead.

However, it was a mute point in the top half of the sixth when Mississippi State had a walk and three straight hits against Cat Hosfield to score Chelsea Bramlett and Brittany Bell for Mississippi State to tie the game.

"Mississippi State hit our pitchers like sharks in bloody water," said head coach Ralph Weekly. "They just attacked us all day long."

After a pitching change, Ali Bainbridge hit a three-run homerun off Danielle Pieroni that gave the Lady Bulldogs the lead for good.

"All of our pitchers missed their spots today," said Weekly. "We just had a bad weekend on the mound."

Mississippi State took the lead in the top of the first with a run, but Tennessee responded with a solid offensive attack over the first five innings.

Tennessee had three triples in the game, two of which were line-drive hits that hit the top of the outfield wall, coming inches from being homeruns.

In total, the Lady Vols had 10 hits but were unable to get any hits in the final two innings while trailing.

"I think our offense just quit trying to climb the mountain," said Weekly. "In the sixth and seventh inning, I don't think our offense had the fire because every time they put up a couple runs, our pitching would give it right back."