Facing one of the toughest offensive lineups in the Southeastern Conference, Mississippi State has had its work cut out for it this weekend.
Vanderbilt entered the weekend top five in the SEC in most offensive categories, but Bulldog pitching has quieted to Commodore bats. After surrendering just four hits and getting five innings from the bullpen with just one run on Friday, MSU was back at it again.
Tomas Valincius delivered an absolute gem for the Diamond Dawgs with Brenden Sweeney closing things out as the two combined for 17 strikeouts and just one walk. With some added offense along the way, MSU took the series in a 7-2 victory.
“I thought the pitching performance tonight is the best that we’ve had,” Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor said. “Maybe match it to Tico’s (Valincius) outing against Arkansas, but the combination between the two of them is the best we’ve seen this year. They were both really locked in. We needed that. We needed a deep outing out of Tico and he gave it to us.”
For the second-straight week, Valincius gave MSU a masterpiece on the mound. After going seven innings with just two hits and no runs against the Razorbacks, Valincius produced one of the best games of his career.
The transfer lefty from Virginia equaled the seven innings but he carved up the Vanderbilt lineup for a career-high 14 strikeouts during his outing. Valincius gave up just two hits, two unearned runs and one walk, with a hit batter on 103 pitches.
The fourth inning was where almost all of the damage happened against Valincius. A leadoff error on Ryder Woodson opened the door for some production for the Commodores. A sacrifice fly and two-out single drove in two runs that cut Mississippi State’s early 4-0 lead down to two runs.
In the other six innings, Valincius surrendered no hits, no runs, no walks and struck out 13. He had seven-straight strikeouts of Vandy hitting from the fifth inning until the seventh.
The Bulldog offense was busy early in the game and built a lead for Valincius. Facing off against the freshman Wyatt Nadeau, MSU rattled the newcomer early. After leaving two in scoring position in the first inning, the Bulldogs came alive with the bases loaded and no outs.
Aidan Teel delivered an infield RBI single and Ace Reese a two-run double both with one out. Reed Stallman added another with a sacrifice fly to center and it was 4-0.
After giving up the two runs in the fourth, Mississippi State got back in the saddle offensively. Noah Sullivan hit a towering fly ball to left field that carried all the way out of the stadium and extended the lead to 5-2. While Valincius dealt, he was picked up in the seventh with some insurance as Bryce Chance delivered a two-out, two-run double to make it 7-2.
From there, Sweeney took care of business with a strong relief stint. The South Carolina transfer pitched the final two innings and allowed just one hit as he gave up a double in the ninth. He struck out three batters and walked one.
Where the two pitchers were the strongest was in how they attacked after getting offense. In the three innings after the Bulldogs scored, Valincius and Sweeney retired all nine batters they faced with six strikeouts.
“It’s a battle every inning,” Valincius said. “Coach (Justin) Parker tells me you’ve got to win the round every inning. When we score, you’ve got to put up a zero and go from there.”
Offensively, MSU (19-4, 3-2 SEC) had nine hits in the game with a 2-for-3 night from Sullivan as he delivered a home run and a double and he walked. Chance was 2-for-4 with two RBI on his double and Jacob Parker finished 1-for-1 while walking three times. Woodson walked twice while delivering a hit and scoring two runs.
Saturday was the second day in a row that over 14,000 fans packed into the stadium to watch the Bulldogs as the Dudy Noble followed up the sixth bestcrowd in school history with the fifth as 14,834 packed inside the stadium. It gave MSU all of the top 25 attended games in the history of the NCAA.
The Diamond Dawgs earned the first series win at Dudy Noble Field against the Commodores since 2014 on Saturday. MSU will try to sweep Vanderbilt (13-11, 2-3 SEC) for the first time since 2000 with a win on Sunday and first pitch will be delivered by Duke Stone at 1 p.m.
“We’ve kind of known what we were as a team this whole time,” Sullivan said. “We’ve lost a couple of tough spots against some really good teams, but we’re right where we need to bed.“Obviously, playing in front of these crowds is special and winning these two games is important. On to the next day.”