Mississippi State University’s baseball team swept Mount St. Mary’s in a midweek series with scores of 13-1 on Tuesday and 10-1 on Wednesday, bouncing back to a season record of 6-4.
On Tuesday night, timely hitting finally came through for the Bulldogs, but he team relied on pitching and defense to carry them to victory.  
Senior Ben Bracewell won his second game of the young season and threw his second-straight quality start.
MSU head coach John Cohen said Bracewell provided leadership and experience on the mound Tuesday.
“Ben pitched like a senior should,” Cohen said. “(Zach) Randolph did a nice job behind the plate. Our pitching and catching was great. We also defended the field well.”
Bracewell allowed six hits and only one earned run in a career-high seven innings pitched.  
He came away with a career-high eight strikeouts as well.
Bracewell said simplifying his pitching approach allowed him to throw deep into the game.
“My whole focus is just trying to not do too much,” Bracewell said. “I get in trouble when I try to overthrow and just over power guys. That’s when I start walking people and pulling off my pitches, so its just staying under control and letting the baseball do its work.”
Freshman Seth Heck received his first start at shortstop of the season. 
Cohen said he had been waiting for the right game and matchup to start Heck and thought Tuesday night would be the right time. 
Heck finished 1-3 with a run, RBI and a walk. He was solid on defense though, which was exactly what Cohen was hoping he would accomplish.  
Heck scored his run as part of a string of six-straight RBI singles in the fourth inning and said the team was seeing the ball well at the plate.
“Hitting is contagious, and that proves it,” Heck said. “All weekend we were struggling to get that hit with runners in scoring position, and then all of a sudden, boom, six in a row.” 
On Wednesday, the MSU offense continued to dominate Mount St. Mary’s. 
With a 4-1 lead, the Bulldogs scored six insurance runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach. 
Senior Demarcus Henderson, junior Wes Rea and senior Brett Pirtle each collected two RBls apiece for the Bulldogs.
Cohen said the offensive outburst in the pair of midweek wins boosted his team’s confidence and will hopefully carry over to this week’s four-game series with Michigan State and Eastern Illinois. 
“Our kids just kept competing and hitting the barrel when we needed it,” Cohen said. “We needed some offensive production. Since it was early in the year, just to get some confidence, so I think it was a pretty productive two days for us.”
MSU returns to the diamond Friday against Michigan State at 6:30 p.m. at Dudy Noble Field for the first game in the Diamond Classic. 
The Bulldogs take on Eastern Illinois and Michigan State Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively before finishing the weekend slate at 3 p.m. with their second game against Eastern Illinois.