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Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State Rides Pitching Gem to Take Series from Vanderbilt

A record crowd at Dudy Noble Field watched Mississippi State dominate Vanderbilt 7-2 to take the series.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State pitcher Tomas Valincius threw for 14 strikeouts in a series-clinching win against Vanderbilt at Dudy Noble Field.
Mississippi State pitcher Tomas Valincius threw for 14 strikeouts in a series-clinching win against Vanderbilt at Dudy Noble Field. | Mississippi State Athletics

Saturday night was a very good night for those in maroon and white at Dudy Noble Field.

A crowd of nearly 15,000 people saw about as dominant of a pitching performance as you can get and a unique home run as No. 6 Mississippi State secured a series win against Vanderbilt, 7-2.

Saturday’s official attendance was announced at 14,834. That’s the fifth-largest on-campus attendance in NCAA history. It also gives Dudy Noble Field the 25 largest attendances in Div. I history, booting Arkansas’ single appearance off the list.

It was a fun night for Mississippi State and one that should have some celebrations late into the night.

On the Mound

Tomas Valincius must really like being the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week because he probably just won it for a second-straight week.

Valincius allowed four total base runners in seven innings of work. He wasn’t charged with any earned runs, but did allow to unearned runs as a result of a fielding error, passed ball and walk in the fourth inning to load the bases.

After that, though, Valincius struck out the next seven batters. He finished the game with a career-high 14 strikeouts. It’s performances like this that remind us why he was rated as one of the best players available in the transfer portal.

Brendan Sweeney handled the final two innings similar to how Valincius did. No runs, one hit, one walk and three strikeouts.

After using three heavily used relief pitchers in Friday’s series-opening game, it eases the burden of the Bulldogs’ bullpen for the series finale on Sunday. Now, they have almost the entire bullpen available should it be needed.

At the Plate

It doesn’t take much offense when a team’s pitcher is hurling pitches like Valincius was, but the Bulldogs provided more than enough. Nine total hits, eight walks drawn and four strikeouts was more than enough.

Noah Sullivan had the lone home run of the night, a sky high blast to left field that most of the record-setting crowd lost track of. It was his sixth home run of the night.

The top half of the order was effective and Bryce Chance turned the lineup over a few times batting in the No. 9 spot. Chance and Sullivan had the only multi-hit games for Mississippi State and five others had at least one hit.

The only two starters not to record a hit were Gehrig Frei, who drew a walk, and Reed Stallman who had a sacrifice fly that scored a run.

The production was there throughout the entire lineup, which is a great sign to see from a team at this point in the season.

Pitching Decisions

  • WP: Tomas Valincius (5-0), 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 14 K, 1 HP, 103 TP, 71 ST
  • LP: Wyatt Nadeau (1-1), 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 HP, 89 TP, 53 ST

Mississippi State Batting Leaders

  • Noah Sullivan: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 HBP
  • Bryce Chance: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 2B
  • Ace Reese: 1-5, 2 RBI, 1 2B, 2 K
  • Ryder Woodson: 1-2, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 BB
  • Jacob Parker: 1-1, 2 R, 3 BB

Next Up

Mississippi State and Vanderbilt will wrap up their weekend series with a Sunday afternoon game at Dudy Noble Field. First-pitch is set for 1 p.m. on SECN+.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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