STARKVILLE – Pitching has led the way, but the offense has come up big in the last two games, as the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program grabbed a 10-0 victory over Grambling to kick off a five-game week on Tuesday (March 9) at Dudy Noble Field.

Second-year freshman Will Bednar made his first start of the season and threw the first two innings scoreless with five strikeouts. He allowed one hit but faced the minimum thanks to a caught stealing. Freshman Dylan Carmouche (1-0) picked up the victory with a scoreless inning of relief work. The left-hander walked one and struck out two to earn his first career win.

Seven more pitchers threw one inning each to close out the shutout. Sophomore Parker Stinnett made his collegiate debut in the seventh inning with a clean frame and two strikeouts. His appearance marked the 23rd pitcher used by MSU this season, which is already the most in program history.

With the shutout of the Tigers, MSU blanked consecutive opponents for the first time since 2016. That season it was an 8-0 victory over Nicholls State on February 28 and a 14-0 win over Alcorn State on March 1. Following the no-hitter in 1999, Mississippi State also shutout its opponent, a 13-0 win over South Carolina, after the 21-1 victory in the no-hitter over Alcorn State.

Offensively, juniors Tanner Allen and Rowdey Jordan provided most of the damage, as they combined to score three runs and drive in seven RBIs. Allen hit his second home run of the season – a two-run shot – in the five-run fifth inning, added a bases-loaded walk in the sixth and capped his night with a seventh-inning RBI groundout. Jordan’s three RBIs came on a third-inning sacrifice fly, fifth-inning double and sixth-inning hit-by-pitch.

Sophomore Brad Cumbest was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and graduate student Scotty Dubrule doubled in a pair of runs in the fifth, walked and scored a run in the game. Freshman Lane Forsythe chipped in a pair of hits, walked and scored twice in the game.

Quotable

Head coach Chris Lemonis

On seeing a lot of guys in the game on Tuesday

CL: It’s huge. From our top to bottom, they all work hard and they’re all really good players. There’s not a huge gap there, especially pitching staff wise. Getting guys opportunities to stay sharp, get out there, and get their work in is huge. Tonight, was a really big night getting eight [pitchers] out there. All eight came out and they were really crisp. We didn’t work ourselves into a jam or anything all night. Really the only jam we had was in the first inning when we gave up the double, then we threw the guy out. After that, we were as clean as you could be on the mound.

On the depth of the pitching staff

CL: It’s always a good problem to have the depth and really good arms. COVID kind of made us have a little bit more than we thought we were going to have so that’s made it a tricky world right now. I’m glad they are on our team and we have a lot of really good pitchers. On a night like tonight or Sunday, you see us run out so many talented guys. A lot of them are young, so they’re going to be with us for a while. Have some patience, which I know is hard when you’re 18 to have patience. These guys are going to be a big part of our future too, so that’s what’s exciting.

Scoring Recap

Bottom Third

Brad Cumbest singled up the middle to start off the inning before Lane Forsythe followed with a base hit up the middle in the next at bat. A sacrifice bunt by Scotty Dubrule moved both runners into scoring position before Rowdey Jordan’s sacrifice fly to center scored the first run for the Bulldogs to take the early lead.

Mississippi State 1, Grambling 0

Bottom Fifth

Cumbest and Forsythe both singled with no outs and came around to score on a Dubrule double to right center. Rowdey Jordan’s double plated Dubrule and Tanner Allen hit a two-run home run to cap the scoring for the inning.

Mississippi State 6, Grambling 0

Bottom Sixth

Cumbest again started a scoring inning with a single before Forsythe and Davis Meche walked to load the bases. Rowdey Jordan was hit-by-pitch to plate Cumbest, and Allen walked to push across Forsythe. Rowdey Jordan later scored on a walk by Brandon Pimentel.

Mississippi State 9, Grambling 0

Bottom Seventh

Drew McGowan was hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on Meche’s single to center field. A walk for Kyte McDonald loaded the bases before McGowan scored on Allen’s ground out.

Mississippi State 10, Grambling 0