The Mississippi State baseball team avoided dropping a fourth consecutive conference series this past weekend by defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores in two games.
The series win was the first conference series victory for the Bulldogs this season and also allowed State to stay in the hunt in the Western Division race.
MSU now has an overall record of 20-12 and currently holds a 5-7 mark in SEC play.
The Diamond Dogs entered the weekend badly needing a series win, especially after the past three series were tied going into Sunday’s rubber game in which they fell short each time. Following Friday’s 7-4 win and Saturday’s 4-3 extra inning loss to Vanderbilt, the Bulldogs found themselves in familiar territory but with different results.
State went on to win Sunday 8-7 in dramatic fashion with a walk off double by designated hitter Daryl Norris in the bottom of the ninth following the game being tied by the Commodores with a run of their own in the top half of the inning. Sophomore pitcher Evan Mitchell said the series win may give the Bulldogs that needed momentum going into the rest of the season.
“I think it’s big for us. We know we are just as good as any of those other teams we’ve played if not better, and to finally get a series win even though we’ve been playing those teams down to the wire, it’s good and a great feeling,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell was a huge contributor after he took over a game in which the Bulldogs faced a 5-3 Sunday deficit in the fifth and went on to only allow two more runs to come across the board in 3 2/3 innings of work.
Norris went 3-4, had three RBIs and scored a run in Sunday’s rubber game, which included his walk off double in the ninth, and the victim was Vanderbilt’s Kevin Ziomek (2-6.) Norris had a total of three hits against Ziomek for the entire series and said he saw the ball out of his hands well on Friday and Sunday leading up to his grand finale.
“I saw it well Friday, and I was glad to see him come into the game tonight and give him two losses on the weekend,” he said.
The Bulldogs seem to be in position to make a run now that players who have been injured this year are starting to get back to 100 percent. Sophomore C.T. Bradford returned to center field and picked up three hits on the weekend. Sophomore Taylor Stark came on in relief both Saturday and Sunday and pitched a combined two innings giving up only two hits.
Head coach John Cohen said the team is excited about the return of key contributors.
“They feel like we can get on a run, especially when you get a guy like Daryl Norris back in your order, a guy like C.T. Bradford back in your order, a guy like Brent Brownlee back in your order and a guy like Taylor Stark back on the mound,” he said. “All these things are going to help us down the stretch.”
The return of these key players came at a crucial time with the team traveling to play the two-time defending NCAA champion South Carolina Gamecocks this coming weekend. The Gamecocks currently sit at 23-9 and have an identical conference record as State at 5-7. USC is coming off a series win over Tennesee and has been difficult to beat at home, dropping just four of 23 home games this season.
Norris said this past series win could be the confidence this team needs going into the Gamecock series.
“We feel really good. They’ve had some down weekends, and they are going to be ready to play. We just have to come out and bring the intensity that we did this weekend and give it our best shot,” Norris said.
The Bulldogs will host South Alabama tonight at 6:30before traveling to South Carolina this weekend.