Mississippi State shuts out Nicholls State en route to Weekend Sweep

Mississippi State (6-2) absolutely dominated Nicholls State (4-5) by a score of 8-0, earning the Bulldogs their second shutout victory of the weekend, and the season.

MSU got off to a hot start on the day, with Gavin Collins batting a two out RBI on a single in the first inning. From there, the Bulldogs would get another single from Reid Humphreys and both runners would advance into scoring position on the throw. Ryan Gridley would then be hit by a pitch, and a Nathaniel Lowe walk with the bases loaded would bring home the second run of the inning for the home team, giving MSU a 2-0 lead after 1.

The Bulldogs fast start would become even more impressive in the second inning, as the Bulldogs would blow the door open by bringing in four more runs. An Elih Marrero double, a Jacob Robson walk, and a Jack Kruger single would set Brent Rooker up with the bases loaded and no outs. Rooker would respond with a double, bringing both Marrero and Robson home, while advancing Kruger to third. After a walk for Gavin Collins, the Bulldogs would have the bases loaded again, with no outs. Humphreys would then get an RBI single, bringing Kruger home, and leaving the bases loaded, still with no outs. Gridley would then fly out to center field, scoring Rooker. The Colonels would respond to being down 6-0 in the second with only one out by bringing in Mike Hanchar to relieve Alex Ernestein (1-1). Hanchar would get a double play to end the inning, and would hold MSU scoreless in 4.0 innings.

Robbie Petty would then take the mound for the Colonels and throw 2.1 innings without any major problems, until running into difficulties in the eighth. Mississippi State would strike again, by way of impressive two out hitting from Robson, Cody Brown, and Brent Rooker. With two outs, Robson would get things started with a single, prompting Nicholls State to bring in Zach Thiac. Brown, while pinch hitting for Jack Kruger, would hit an RBI triple. Rooker would follow that with a single, to bring the MSU lead up to 8-0, which would be the final score.

In what was an impressive game all around for the Bulldogs, Zac Houston (1-0) truly shined in his second start of the season today. The junior threw six complete innings, only giving up three hits and two walks. In his time on the mound, Houston threw 97 pitches, 68 of which were strikes, and struck out 10 of the 24 batters faced. Kale Breaux, Noah Hughes, and Paul Young each pitched an inning of relief and combined for two strikeouts.