STARKVILLE — College baseball is back. And so are the Bulldogs’ bats.
It took just one pitch in the bottom of the first inning Friday at Dudy Noble Field for Mississippi State’s offense to start clicking, and it never stopped in an 11-2 rout of VMI in MSU’s opening game.
Transfer second baseman Amani Larry, leading off, roped the first pitch he saw as a Bulldog to center field for a double, kick-starting a 16-hit effort for Mississippi State (1-0).
“I knew we were good,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. “When you’re coaching in spring training, if you’re hitting really good, you’re worried about your pitching and vice versa. We can just do a lot of things offensively.”
Larry finished 4 for 4 with a walk and four RBIs in his MSU debut, while redshirt freshman designated hitter Bryce Chance went 3 for 5 and slugged the Bulldogs’ first home run of the year.
The Bulldogs did the bulk of their offensive work in the middle innings, scoring three runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings and adding two more runs in the seventh.
Chance helped provide much of that insurance, responding with an RBI single to double MSU’s lead in the fifth after VMI scored its only two runs. He slugged a two-run homer to center in the sixth.
Chance said he “kind of blacked out” after seeing the ball come off his bat.
“I remember hitting it and thinking, ‘No way it gets out,’” he said. “Then (first-base coach) Stone (Simmons) put his hand up at first, and I don’t remember much after that.”
Neither he nor Larry was bothered by their first taste of game action at Dudy Noble. Larry, a transfer from the University of New Orleans, had an RBI single in the second, a two-run base hit in the fifth and a third RBI hit in the sixth.
“Pretty impressive,” Lemonis said. “First day out there. I didn’t even realize until the end of the game that he never got out. He’s a really good player. We knew that coming in.
“It usually takes them a little time to get acclimated. It didn’t take him any time at all.”
Third baseman Slate Alford went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, which came on a sac fly in the first inning and an RBI single up the middle in the seventh.
Alford was robbed of a grand slam in straightaway center in the first, settling for just one RBI. MSU added a second run on Larry’s single into center in the second and Luke Hancock’s sac fly in the third.
Cade Smith drew the start and went four innings for the Bulldogs, allowing just two hits and striking out five. Smith stranded five VMI runners, including two in the first and two more in the fourth.
Lemonis said Smith’s short start was by design this early in the season, particularly given mid-40s temperatures in Starkville.
“I feel like it’s cold every Opening Day,” Lemonis said.
Four pitchers took it the rest of the way, all four of them newcomers. Graham Yntema was charged with two runs in the fifth after a bloop double and an error, while Nate Dohm, Tyson Hardin and Logan Forsythe pitched the final 3 2/3 innings without being charged with runs.
Dohm rolled a double play to escape a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth, and VMI had only one baserunner across the final three frames.
“I thought our guys were great,” Lemonis said. “As that lead expanded, I just wanted some guys to get their feet wet out there on the mound.”
Mississippi State and VMI will square off again at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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