STARKVILLE – Mississippi State took the series against Lipscomb on Friday with a 9-4 win over the Bisons at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldog bats didn’t wake up until the fifth inning on Thursday, but they got rolling in the second. Freshman Jacob Parker hit a two-run bomb to put them on the board, and Bryce Chance walked to start a two-out rally that would load up the bases. Chance got home on a wild pitch and Noah Sullivan launched a three-run bomb to clear the rest of the runners and put MSU up 6-0 early in the game.
Valincius would give up a pair of runs in the third but rolled through the fourth without much trouble before head coach Brian O’Connor turned to the bullpen for relief work. Righty Tyler Pitzer came out first to post a zero in the fifth inning and struck out all three batters faced, with all three going down swinging against the junior. He kept his cool in the sixth as well, with a couple of flyouts and another strikeout, letting up just one hit in two frames of work.
Gehrig Frei and Sullivan added another pair of runs for MSU and the visitors got two back with a solo shot off of Chris Billingsley Jr. in the seventh and a play with two fielding errors in the eighth. A drive into left got past James Nunnallee, and the throw to third got through Ace Reese’s glove to turn a single into two extra bases.
MSU would add one off an RBI single from catcher Andrew Raymond before going into the ninth, where Jack Gleason arrived to close out the win, striking out the final batter.
The Bulldogs and Bisons will meet for Game Three on Saturday at 10 a.m. in an attempt to fit the contest in before a storm arrives in the afternoon.
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