STARKVILLE — Zac Houston may have been more excited than Ryan Rigby.
After giving up a walk, a hit, and another walk to load the bases, though, Houston had three big reasons to be equally worried.
That’s the situation Houston handed over to Rigby with no outs in the top of the seventh inning and the No. 4 Mississippi State baseball team leading Louisiana Tech 4-0.
But Rigby was up to the challenge.
The sophomore right-hander struck out his first two batters before inducing a fly ball to Jacob Robson in center field. Rigby was walking toward the MSU dugout before Robson made the catch and was ready to be mobbed by teammates. Houston was the third Bulldog to congratulate Rigby. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound right-hander chest bumped the 5-11, 180-pound Rigby and then slapped him on the butt and hollered.
“I don’t really know how to put it into words,” Houston said. “Yeah, I had some emotions flying. It was awesome.”
Houston and Rigby combined on a two-hitter to push top-seeded MSU past third-seeded Louisiana Tech 4-0 Sunday night at Dudy Noble Field to win the Starkville Regional.
The victory capped a 3-0 run through the regional and sent No. 6 national seed MSU (44-16-1) to its sixth super regional. MSU will face Louisiana-Lafayette or Arizona next weekend at times to be announced in Starkville. Louisiana-Lafayette has to beat Arizona once today to advance.
“Zac (Houston) came out there with a purpose tonight and was really dominant,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “It all worked around his fastball. There wasn’t a ton of hard contact.”
Houston, who was named to the All-Regional team, was used as a starter in the beginning of the season, but he moved back to the bullpen once Southeastern Conference play started. Last week, the junior right-hander surrendered one run on four hits in 8 2/3 innings in a 4-1 victory against Alabama in the Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
Houston (6-0) threw six-plus innings and allowed two hits. He walked three and tied his career-high with 10 strikeouts. He credited the aggressiveness of Louisiana Tech (42-20) for his high strikeout total.
“I just went with my fastball primarily. It had good life on it,” Houston said. “Around the third inning, I started getting command over my breaking ball and I started using it as well.”
But Houston ran into trouble in the sixth when he walked Cody Daigle, allowed a bloop single to Michael Deceglie, and walked Jordan Washam to load the bases. Cohen and pitching coaching Wes Johnson didn’t hesitate to call on Rigby.
After throwing a couple of his warmup pitches in the right-handed batter’s box, Rigby struck out Chandler Hall on three pitches, stuck out J.D. Perry on four pitches, and retired No. 9 hitter Bryce Stark on a lazy fly ball to Robson.
Rigby pitched a perfect eighth and ninth for his first save. Cohen didn’t expect to use Rigby after the seventh because he threw 2 1/3 innings (41 pitches) Friday in a 9-5 victory against Southeast Missouri State. But Johnson changed Cohen’s mind.
“Wes told me, ‘Coach, he’s going to try to kill somebody if we take him out. He’s like a caveman down there. That kid has a different look on his face when he’s competing,’ ” Cohen said.
Cohen said it was probably going to take a crowbar to get the ball out of Rigby’s hand. The Kosciusko native and former East Mississippi Community College standout struck out four. Cohen said Rigby was getting to his glove-hand side, which gave him confidence he could continue.
Rigby’s effort capped another strong pitching performance. Houston set the tone by continuing a stretch of solid outings. He entered Sunday’s game having allowed only four runs (three earned) in his last 19 innings (nine appearances). In that stretch, he had allowed 13 hits and six walks and had struck out 14. In the last three months, Houston has lowered his ERA from 2.63 to 1.63.
Cohen said Houston’s maturity is due to several things.
“I think Wes has done a great job with him,” Cohen said. “I think his summer in (the Cape Cod League) was big.”
Houston pitched for the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He had a 1.68 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings in eight appearances (four starts). He held hitters to a .155 average.
Houston said he worked with senior Trent Waddell every day after moving back to the bullpen. Houston said he was chomping at the bit when he didn’t pitch and was ready to seize his opportunity. He was thankful to have the ball with a berth in the super regionals on the line, which was a chance he didn’t think he was going to get.
MSU took a 1-0 lead in the second and increased it to 3-0 in the third. The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the fifth.
After getting some assistance from Rigby, Houston may be even stronger moving forward knowing his bullpen has his back.
“It gives me all the confidence in the world,” Houston said. “I feel like no matter what scenario I’m leaving the guy they put in behind me is going to come in and get the job done.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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