TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In what could have been the last pitch Chris Stratton threw in his Mississippi State University career, the ball traveled a little bit further than 60 feet, six inches.

Designated hitter C.K. Irby provided one of four exclamation points, hitting a home run more than 400 feet to center field Friday to help lift the third-seeded Samford University baseball team to a 5-0 victory against second-seeded MSU in the opening game of the 2012 NCAA tournament Tallahassee Regional at Florida State University.

“We can hit the baseball, and there’s no doubt that’s our calling card,” Samford coach Casey Dunn said. “We proved that in this game against the SEC champs.”

Less than a minute after Irby’s blast gave Samford a 4-0 lead in the eighth inning, the junior right-hander from Tupelo shook his head and handed the baseball to pitching coach Butch Thompson. Stratton (11-2) entered the game having allowed only four home runs all season. Irby’s home run was the second of the inning and third he surrendered in the game.

“He made a couple of bad pitches, and people need to understand it’s not easy to keep pitching at your best level when you’re having to put the team on your back like that,” MSU junior catcher Mitch Slauter said. “He had so much pressure on him because of our lack of offense inning after inning.”

Samford made Stratton pay for leaving pitches up in the strike zone in pitcher-friendly counts. The Southern Conference-based Bulldogs capitalized by hitting four home runs in their first NCAA tournament game. It marked the second time this season Samford has homered four times in one game. It was also the first time this season MSU pitching had allowed three or more home runs in a game.

“They did a good job of just going down and getting pitches,” Stratton said. “It really reminded me of Kentucky, just the way they could go down and get it. They had a good plan and they executed it really well.”

After a leadoff out in the eighth, Saxon Butler hit his 15th home run of the year. Stratton walked Brandon Miller, who homered earlier in the game, with two outs before giving up Irby’s two-run shot, his fifth of the season. Caleb Reed relieved Stratton and allowed Christiaan Durdaller’s fifth home run of the season.

Samford scored the only run it needed in the second when Miller hit his nation-leading 23rd home run. Stratton limited the damage after that and allowed only six hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four. But Miller’s home run came on an 0-2 curveball that Stratton left in the heart of the strike zone. Miller took advantage of the mistake and deposited the ball over the left-field fence more than 440 feet away.

The senior right fielder fought off two fastballs away before the home run.

“We went fastball away twice and fouled them both off and then went fastball up and in, but he fouled that off too,” Stratton said. “I knew I’d have to bury a breaking ball there and left it up right in his wheelhouse. That’s what happens when you do that.”

Miller knew immediately after the ball left Stratton’s hand he had his pitch.

“It was surprising because he was hitting his spots for the most part,” Miller said of Stratton. “He’s a great pitcher. There’s no doubt about that, but we stayed patient.”

Samford players said after the victory they respected Stratton’s stuff and thought he pitched well, but they said he made his mistakes in hittable areas. Their strategy was to negate the odds and attack those rare opportunities.

“Stratton was really good today, but, thankfully, he left a few balls up and when you do that against us, we’ll make you pay for that,” Miller said.

Stratton, who is a projected to be selected in the middle of the first round in the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft that starts Monday, gave up the second-most earned runs of the season. He was one short of matching the five runs he surrendered April 13 in a no-decision at the University of South Carolina.

After struggling down the finish last year, Friday marked Stratton’s debut in the NCAA tournament. If MSU doesn’t extend its season, the loss likely will be Stratton’s last start in college.

“I’m not worried about (the draft),” Stratton said. “We got to come back and compete (Saturday). That’s the most important thing.”

Samford starting pitcher Charles Basford (10-2) went into the ninth to get the win. Basford, who threw a season-high 131 pitches, allowed five hits, walked four, and struck out four. He walked Demarcus Henderson to start the ninth before giving way to Irby, who didn’t allow a hit and struck out one.