STARKVILLE — After watching Dakota Hudson and Austin Sexton have success in the first two games of the Mississippi State baseball team’s series against Oregon, Daniel Brown wanted his outing to be just as spectacular.
Brown accomplished his goal, throwing a career-high seven innings and not allowing a run to lead the No. 24 MSU to a 5-2 victory against No. 11 Oregon on Sunday at Dudy Noble Field.
The victory helped MSU (12-3-1) sweep the three-game series. It was MSU’s first sweep since 2014 at Auburn.
“Getting the first two wins, I just wanted to come out here and fill up the zone and get our offense back in the dugout quick,” Brown said. “Just watching Sexton and Dakota fill it up, I just wanted to do the same thing.”
Junior right-handers Hudson and Sexton shut down Oregon on Friday and Saturday, respectively, to help the Bulldogs clinch the top-25 series. Brown (2-0) was anxious for his turn to build on his first three starts. The junior left-hander went 5 2/3 innings to beat the University of Massachusetts Lowell two weekends ago. He took no decisions against South Dakota State on the first weekend and Oklahoma last Sunday.
Against the Sooners, Brown lasted 3 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out one.
Brown was much better against Oregon (8-5), scattering four hits and walking one in a 90-pitch effort (61 strikes). He struck out four.
“Even as good as Daniel was (Sunday), he’s better than what he showed,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “He has better command than that. I’ve seen him just top shelf. He’s still striving to get there. (Sunday) was a really good sign for him.”
Brown cruised through the first three innings. After retiring the side in order in the first and second, he issued a one-out walk before getting a flyout and a strikeout to strand the runner at second.
In the fourth, a Gavin Collins error allowed the leadoff batter to reach, but Brown retired the next batter. Matt Kroon then singled for the first hit, but a 4-6-3 double play stopped the threat.
“Just attacking early (with the) fastball,” Brown said of what was working for him. “That really helped me get into advantage counts, so we could get early contact and get quick innings.”
Brown had a perfect fifth and faced the minimum in the sixth thanks to another double play. Oregon loaded the bases in the seventh, but Brown got a groundout to escape damage.
An RBI single by Reid Humphreys in the first gave MSU (12-3-1) a 1-0 lead. Humphreys had a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 2-0.
The Bulldogs put the game out of reach with three runs in the sixth. A two-run home run by Brent Rooker, his second of the weekend, was the big blow.
“Daniel’s a guy who has unbelievable stuff, but in the past few outings he has struggled to find the strike zone,” Rooker said. “(Sunday) he was a strike thrower. He has that really good breaking ball. He has that fastball he can run up to 92-93 (mph), so when he’s throwing strikes with the kind of stuff he has, he’s going to be really tough to hit for anybody.”
Rooker went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. He was 6-for-11 with five RBIs for the weekend. Jacob Robson and Ryan Gridley had two hits.
Brown looked poised to finish the game, but Cohen wanted to get some other pitchers some work. Vance Tatum threw the eighth and allowed solo home runs to Travis Moniot and A.J. Balta.
Humphreys threw a perfect ninth to pick up his second save.
“He just threw the ball in the strike zone, which is something we struggled a little bit with out in Los Angeles,” Cohen said. “I thought he just competed extremely well.”
Brown said the 10:30 a.m. start was the earliest he has been on the mound. He said he began to stretch at 9:30 a.m. and took it easy for the next hour to get ready.
MSU will play host to Eastern Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (SEC Network+). It will play host to Oral Roberts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network+).
Hudson and Sexton have cemented themselves as the ace and No. 2 pitcher on the staff. Brown is making a case to pitch every Sunday once Southeastern Conference play begins. He likes being on the back end of the rotation because he can pick ask Hudson and Sexton questions about what worked for them.
“It helps a lot,” Brown said. “You watch them then you talk to them, so you can work on a good game plan to attack these guys.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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