Video: Mississippi State Falls To Arizona 1-0 To Start Super Regional

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – In front of the second-largest Super Regional crowd in MSU history, No. 4 Mississippi State could not cash in on limited scoring chances Friday night in a 1-0 loss to Arizona in game one of the Starkville Super Regional.

The best-of-three series resumes with a 5 p.m. start Saturday (ESPNU). If Mississippi State can even the series, a third game will be played at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2 or ESPNU). The super regional winner will advance to the College World Series, which begins June 18 in Omaha, Nebraska.

The story of the contest was Arizona pitcher Bobby Dalbec. In his fifth start of the season, Dalbec (10-4) pitched 8.2 innings, allowing five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks. Cameron Ming got a strikeout with two runners on base in the ninth inning for his second save.

“It was a great pitching matchup,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “They had 10 punch outs. We had nine. They made a couple of great defensive players and that was really the main thing. Bobby Dalbec pitched great for them. We really didn’t make adjustments.

“Usually when you have a lot of strikeouts in a game, you have them early in a game and then adjustments are made. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make those adjustments. We had a hard time doing anything consistently on offense.

“(Dalbec) threw a lot of first-pitch strikes,” MSU third baseman Gavin Collins said. “We were aggressive at the plate but we didn’t do a good enough job making adjustments when we got down in counts.”

In his final start at MSU, Dakota Hudson (9-5) pitched 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and one run (earned), with six strikeouts and a walk. Daniel Brown pitched 2.2 innings of hitless relief for the Bulldogs.

Hudson took to the mound less than 24 hours after being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the opening-round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

“It was emotional to be able to go out there and pitch one more time before such a great crowd,” Hudson said. “They were really supporting us. I will always remember pitching in games like this before crowds like this.”

The crowd of 12,913 ranks as the second-largest Super Regional crowd in MSU history and the 12th-largest crowd in Dudy Noble Field history.

Jack Kruger singled and Nathaniel Lowe walked in the first inning but each was stranded. The Bulldogs stranded another runner in the second inning and two more in the third inning, before Dalbec settled into a groove and retired 10 batters in a row.

In the sixth inning, Arizona broke through for the game’s only run. Alfonso Rivas had a one-out single. J.J. Matijevic then followed with a two-out double down the field line.

The Bulldogs were retired in order in the seventh and stranded a runner in the eighth inning. In the ninth inning, Dalbec got the first two batters before back-to-back hits by Ryan Gridley and John Holland. A strikeout of Jake Mangum ended the contest.

“There has been pressure on our guys all season,” Cohen said. “If you don’t win the last day (of the regular season), you don’t win the (Southeastern Conference) regular-season championship. If you don’t win last week, you don’t advance.

“There is no doubt the guys will come out and ready to play the next two days. We certainly can win the next two days.”

Arizona outhit MSU, 7-5. Matijevic was the lone multiple hitter for either team.