STARKVILLE – Mississippi State’s baseball team broke through a three-inning pitchers’ duel on Friday with three runs in the fourth and five more in the seventh to help get the postseason started with a 10-1 shutout win over Lipscomb in the Starkville Regional.
The Bulldogs (41-17) advance in the winner’s bracket and will play the winner of the Cincinnati-Louisiana contest at 8 p.m. Saturday while the Bison (29-25) take on the loser at 3 p.m. in an elimination game.
Before the bats got going for MSU, it was the pitchers ruling the day with Lipscomb’s Alexander Llinas keeping the Bulldogs in check with only one hit through the first three innings and State’s Duke Stone racking up nine of his 10 strikeouts through the first four innings.
“He just absolutely attacked the pitcher’s mound today and executed his pitches,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “To go out in the first game of a regional and go six innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts is impressive and we’re proud of him. We knew that he was the right guy to get us off to a great start this weekend.”
Just as hard as it was for the Bison to land a hit off Stone, it was equally as difficult for MSU to put a ball in play off Llinas. Through the first three innings he forced flyout after flyout and lineout after lineout to keep State off kilter, but eventually the Bulldogs broke through in the fourth.
Reese gave the Bulldogs their second hit of the game with a single, Noah Sullivan was walked to get two runners on the bags for MSU, and Jacob Parker got the team on the board with a screaming single to center field to score Reese. Vytas Valincius added a soft bunt to third base to load the bags, and Reed Stallman added a hard-hit single to right field to tack on two more runs.
Parker sent the first pitch he saw in the sixth inning soaring right into Adkerson Plaza for a solo homer to help the team coast to the seventh, where State poured it on even more. Frei was hit by a pitch and three straight walks gave the Bulldogs a free score and left the bases loaded for Valincius, who again delivered. This time he sliced a double to the centerfield wall to score two more runs, and Kevin Milewski broke through an 0-for-3 spell with a two-run single to put State up 9-0.
It was a spree of action that busted open a close game, and it all started with Parker – a freshman making his postseason debut.
“The guy takes incredible swings,” O’Connor said. “… His poise that he showed as an 18-year-old – his parents have done an incredible job raising those two boys.”
Frei delivered the Bulldogs’ second homer of the day with a solo blast in the eighth inning for the team’s final score.
After holding the Athletic Sun Conference Champions to just three hits with 10 strikeouts through six innings, Stone handed the ball off to Tyler Pitzer for the next two innings. Pitzer kept the groove going and fanned one batter and only gave up one hit, then Jack Gleason was handed the reins to close the game. He gave up a single and a walk before Blake Carter smacked an RBI single to get the Bison on the board before Pitzer forced a flyout to end it.
Valincius led the team with three hits and two RBI, and Reese and Parker each had two hits.
The win for State is its fourth over Lipscomb on the season.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
