Mississippi opened the post-All-Star break portion of the 2026 campaign with southpaw Tyler Campbell taking the hill looking to extend a consecutive winning streak to three games.

Campbell sat down the Y’alls in order in his first frame of work, picking up his first strikeout of the evening on the second batter of the game.

The Mississippi bats threatened in the top of the second after Travis Holt and Kyle Booker started a one-out rally with Holt singling and Booker reaching on an error, but Florence starter Jonaiker Villalobos was able to pitch himself out of the jam without allowing a runner to cross.

The Y’alls answered right away with two runs in their half of the third to make it a one-run game.

After Dillon Baker was hit by an offering from Campbell, Zach Beadle reached on a fielding error by Holt at third, and Milo Rushford singled to load the bases.

Clutch defense delayed the first Florence run from scoring after Brett Blomquist grounded a ball to Holt, and the Mud Monsters third baseman fired home for the force out to catch Baker for out number one.

Hank Zeisler then grounded a ball to Nathan Rose at second, who flipped it to shortstop Joshua Shelly for one, but the throw to Fritz at first was offline.

The first run scored was credited as an RBI for Zeisler, while the second came home on the errant throw, cutting the Mud Monsters lead to 3-2.

Mississippi’s offense was held at bay through three full frames before another two-out rally answered the trio of Florence runs in the bottom of the sixth.

With one out, Shelly singled, and with two outs, Brayland Skinner joined him after reaching on an error by Florence shortstop Baker to put two men on.

A wild pitch by Y’alls reliever Will Carsten followed, moving both Mississippi baserunners into scoring position, and Fritz scored both with a clutch game-tying two-run single to knot things up at 5-5.

Fritz then stole second, and Carsten’s second wild pitch of the inning moved him 90 feet away from giving Mississippi the lead.

Paz then followed with his second hit of the game, a run-scoring double to score Fritz and give Mississippi a 6-5 lead.

Mississippi’s bats picked up a one-out hit with Booker notching his first of the game in the top of the eighth, but the offense could not make anything of it.

Langrell remained on the hill in the home half of the eighth. After drilling Shaneyfelt to put the leadoff man aboard, the Mud Monsters reliever responded by retiring the next three men in order to keep the deficit at 8-6.

Aiden McEvoy entered with a save opportunity in the top of the ninth as Mississippi’s bats were down to their final chance.

Although Shelly drew a walk to reach, McEvoy retired the next three Mud Monsters to come to the plate to secure the 8-6 series-opening victory for Florence.