Mississippi State Baseball Shuts Out La Tech, Advances To Super Regional

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – When the fourth-ranked Mississippi State baseball team needed a lift Sunday night, sophomore right-hander Ryan Rigby answered the call.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the seventh inning, Rigby recorded two strikeouts and a fly out to snuff Louisiana Tech’s last legitimate threat for victory.

Thanks to Rigby and a strong start by junior right-hander Zac Houston, No. 6 national seeded Mississippi State nailed down its sixth-ever super regional berth by knocking off Louisiana Tech 4-0 to win the Starkville Regional before a crowd of 9,092 at Dudy Noble Field.

MSU (44-16-1) will host either Louisiana-Lafayette or Arizona in the Starkville Super Regional, which will start this weekend. Game dates, times and television assignments will be finalized late Monday. For the latest information, follow the official MSU baseball Twitter account @HailStateBB.

It was MSU’s first shutout in regional play since a 3-0 victory over Southern Mississippi in the 2011 Atlanta Regional at Georgia Tech.

“Zac went out there with a purpose tonight,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “He struck out 10 of the 23 he faced and that is pretty dominant. (Rigby) was dominant.”

“We had some big hits. We had some timely hits. That is how we were able to win games this weekend.”

After a near-miss at a complete-game pitching performance in last week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament win over Alabama, Houston was back at it Sunday night, holding the potent Louisiana Tech offense to two hits and no runs over six-plus innings of work, with three walks and a career-high matching 10 strikeouts. Houston threw 117 pitches.

“I knew they were an aggressive lineup and I knew they were going to come in here swinging,” Houston said. “After I got control of my breaking ball in the third inning, things went really well from there. When you load the bases and no outs, you feel bad because of what you are asking the relief pitcher to do. (Rigby) was outstanding. He really gave us a lift.”

In the seventh inning, Rigby took over after two walks and a base hit allowed by Houston had loaded the bases. Rigby got back-to-back swinging strikeouts and a fly out to shallow center to work the Bulldogs out of that tight spot.

For the night, MSU pitching allowed two hits and struck out 14. Rigby retired all nine batters he faced and only needed 27 pitches to earn his first save.

From an offensive standpoint, the Bulldogs again churned out enough runs. Following a pattern similar to a 4-1 semifinal round win over Cal State Fullerton, timely hitting and three errors by Louisiana Tech (42-20) proved huge for the Maroon and White.

In the second inning, Jacob Robson started things with a one-out base hit. Robson stole second base and Brent Rooker then walked. On a ground ball out, Robson was retired at the plate but Rooker scored on an errant throw.

In the third inning, the Bulldogs tacked on two more scores. Jake Mangum had a leadoff double in that at-bat. After a sacrifice bunt and groundout, Gavin Collins followed with an RBI-single. Robson and Rooker then followed with back-to-back hits, with Rooker bringing home Collins.

MSU closed the scoring in the fifth inning. Nathaniel Lowe and Robson each had hits. A sacrifice-fly by Rooker provided the game’s final run.

MSU finished with 10 hits. Robson had three hits, while Lowe had two hits.

Braden Bristo (5-6) took the loss for Louisiana Tech. Bristo allowed five hits and three runs (two earned) in 2.2 innings of work. Graham Ahlrich and Adam Atkins combined for five-hit relief, allowing one run the rest of the way.

For MSU, Rooker was chosen the tournament’s most outstanding player. The all-tournament team also included MSU’s Ryan Gridley, Reid Humphreys, Mangum, Kruger, Rooker and Houston.