STARKVILLE - John Cohen keeps waiting for it all to click with his team. It didn't happen Saturday.

Mississippi State lost another tight one, falling 4-3 to Vanderbilt in a 12-inning affair at Dudy Noble Field. That evened the weekend series at a game apiece, with the rubber match set for 1:30 p.m. today.

MSU (19-12, 4-7 SEC) is now 3-6 this season in one-run games and has lost the last four such games. It's also 0-4 in extra-inning contests and yet to win on Saturday in SEC play.

Three errors and some missed chances at the plate doomed the Bulldogs. Cohen said his hitters swung and missed on a 3-1 count five times, and MSU had two runners caught stealing.

The Bulldogs were 0 of 8 with runners in scoring position - 11 total were stranded - and had just five hits.

"Our lineup right now just isn't able to take these concepts and make them work, because they're distracted, and we're just not doing a good job, and that's my job," Cohen said. "We need to be able to do those things to pressure our opponent, we're just not good at doing it right now."

Vanderbilt (13-18, 4-7), which earned its first road win of the season, took the lead in the 12th on an RBI single by Anthony Gomez. Tony Kemp scored from second, just beating a strong throw by left fielder Hunter Renfroe.

State had tied it in the ninth when Renfroe smacked a 3-2 pitch off the left-center field wall for a two-out, game-tying double.

Vandy got on the board in the sixth thanks to a botched fly ball by center fielder C.T. Bradford, who then booted it for a two-error play. Mike Yazstrzemski's infield single made it 1-0, and then Vince Conde's double added two more.

All three runs were unearned.

Bradford had made a diving catch just the inning before with a runner at second.

Vandy starter Tyler Beede didn't allow a hit through the first four innings, and he exited in the seventh after issuing a leadoff walk. He gave up one run on two hits, struck out five and walked three.

Thanks to two more walks from Vandy relievers and RBI groundouts by Brent Brownlee and Renfroe, MSU cut the deficit to 3-2.

Over his last three starts, Beede has given up three runs, struck out 20 and walked five in 17 innings.

"He's pretty good. He had a really good changeup that he threw when he was behind in the count, actually," said Renfroe, who threw out a runner at home in the ninth.

MSU starter Kendall Gravemen left with two outs in the sixth. He gave up three runs, none of them earned, on four hits. He struck out seven and walked one.

Jacob Lindgren (1-1) took the loss, while Will Clinard (3-1) got the win.

brad.locke@journalinc.com