Mississippi State Southpaw Earns SEC Pitcher of The Week Recognition

Mississippi State’s first SEC weekend of the season didn’t go as well as it had hoped and there have been some consequences.

Losing two of the three games to Arkansas saw the Bulldogs in every major college baseball top 25 ranking that’s been released. A few on the field areas have start to show signs of issues (catcher, bullpen to name two).

But the weekend wasn’t all bad. Mississippi State nearly won Friday’s game and did win Saturday’s game, 7-2.

That Saturday win also showed part of what makes this Mississippi State team still a contender. Tomas Valincius put on his most dominant outing as a Bulldog against then-No. 5 Arkansas. It was such a dominant performance that Valnicius won his first SEC co-Pitcher of the Week award.

Valincius pitched seven shutout innings and allowed only two hits to earn a victory over the Razorbacks on Saturday.

The seven-inning start was a career-long for the sophomore southpaw, who also matched his season-high with seven strikeouts.

In five starts this season, Valincius is 4-0 with a 1.30 ERA, 33 strikeouts and eight walks across 27.2 innings. Opposing teams are batting just .194 against him on the year. He’s leading Mississippi State in ERA, wins, runs allowed (among weekend starters), opponent batting average and is second in strikeouts (tied with Duke Stone and three behind Ryan McPherson).

Here are the other weekly SEC award winners:

Player of the Week: Brendan Brock, Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s Brendan Brock helped the No. 9 Sooners to a 3-1 week and SEC opening weekend series win over No. 22 Texas A&M. Brock hit .444 with five extra-base hits, including two home runs, and eight RBIs. He homered in back-to-back games of the series vs. the Aggies and registered his first triple of the season. Of his eight hits last week, five of them brought in runs. Additionally, the transfer showed his versatility, making starts at catcher and in the outfield with 40 putouts and two assists to no errors, also stealing two bags on two attempts.

Co-Pitcher of the Week: Jake Marciano, Auburn

Auburn’s Jake Marciano turned in a career-high 7.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in his first career SEC start to helped Auburn open league play with shutout at Missouri. It marked his second straight scoreless outing and third of the season, having now started in two of the team’s three shutouts this year. In earning the win, Marciano retired the last 11 batters he faced in the outing after allowing a one-out double in the fourth inning.

Freshman of the Week: Wyatt Nadeau, Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt’s Wyatt Nadeau earned his first collegiate win against No. 13 LSU in his first SEC start, and only his second collegiate start, Saturday at Hawkins Field to clinch the series over the Tigers. Nadeau tossed 7.0 innings, striking out 10 batters while only allowing four hits. The right-hander held LSU to one run over his first six innings of work.