Mississippi State clinched the series over rivals Ole Miss in Oxford on Saturday, setting up a chance to sweep the Rebels on Sunday for the first time since 2019.
The No. 6 Diamond Dawgs (23-4, 6-2 SEC) took Game One 5-4 in a ninth-inning comeback, but gave fans a bit less stress with a composed 6-1 win on Saturday over the No. 18 Rebels (19-9, 3-6 SEC).
The Bulldogs got five shutout innings of work from starter Tomas Valincius, setting the stage for the bats to come alive and take a commanding lead in the middle innings. The sophomore ace recorded nine strikeouts while allowing three hits and two walks. He likely could have gone further into the contest, having thrown 90 pitches when head coach Brian O’Connor went to the bullpen, but with the series next week starting a day early, the decision to go to the pen made sense.
MSU first got on the board with a solo home run from Kevin Milewski in the third inning and added another pair of runs the following inning on a sacrifice groundout from Jacob Parker and an RBI hit from Gehrig Frei. The pair would combine again in the sixth inning, going back-to-back on home runs to make it a 6-0 lead for the Bulldogs.
Brendan Sweeney took over on the mound in the sixth inning, navigating a difficult start after hitting a batter and walking another. He would surrender one run but no more, giving freshman Maddox Miller a five-run lead for the seventh and eighth innings. Miller would allow a couple of hits, but struck out three while posting a pair of zeros on the board.
Maddox Webb came in to close out the game after tossing an inning for the Bulldogs the night before. He got a quick lineout before walking Hayden Federico. He would advance to third on a Judd Utermark groundout, but Tristan Bissetta went down swinging for the final out.
MSU’s dominance over Ole Miss continues, with the Rebels holding just a single series win over the Bulldogs since 2016. O’Connor and co. will try to sweep their hosts in Game Three on Sunday, beginning at 3 p.m.
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