STARKVILLE – Mississippi State baseball kept on rolling in the attendance record and winning ballgames business on Saturday. The Bulldogs (19-4, 3-2 SEC) took the series with a X-X victory over Vanderbilt, setting up a chance to sweep on Sunday, while also taking ownership of all 25 spots on the NCAA’s Top 25 on-campus attendance list, hosting 14,834 at Dudy Noble Field. It’s the fifth-largest on-campus crowd in history.
The Bulldog bats got on top of Vandy starter Wyatt Nadeau early in the game, putting a pair of runners aboard in the first inning before driving in four runs in a prolific second inning. Aidan Teel, Ace Reese and Reed Stallman got RBI hits, and a few were left out there with the bases loaded. Nadeau stayed on the mound through four innings, steadying the ship for the Commodores a bit after the early blitz, but gave up one more on a solo home run by Noah Sullivan in the fourth inning.
Sullivan’s homer came in response to a pair of runs scoring for the visitors. The Commodores got going with a fielding error at shortstop and advanced on a passed ball to get into scoring position. A sac fly by Mike Mancini got the first run through, followed by an RBI double from Rustan Rigdon, but the rally stopped there.
Neither score counted as an earned run against MSU starter Tomas Valincius, had a strong first three innings, and responded to the two-run blip in the fourth inning with a ruthless finish to the night. He recorded seven straight strikeouts across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, posting a career-high 14 strikeouts through 7.0 innings pitched.
Bryce Chance added some insurance to Valincius’ lead with a two-run double driven down the left field foul line, sneaking by third base to send Jacob Parker and Ryder Woodson home and make it 7-2 heading into the eighth inning.
Brendan Sweeney took over for Valincius out of the bullpen and went right to work with a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 eighth inning. He would allow a one-out double from Colin Barczi in the ninth inning, who advanced to third on a groundout, and gave up a two-out walk, but ended the night with a groundout.
The Bulldogs will try to sweep Vandy on Sunday in Game Three, beginning at 1 p.m.
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