MSU Cruises Past Rhody Rams

The first seven Bulldog batters hit safely and scored in the first inning Tuesday as No. 5 Mississippi State (10-0) stayed unbeaten with a 13-2 win over Rhode Island on a chilly afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.

State and Rhode Island (0-7) conclude their two-game midweek series Wednesday with a 4 p.m. contest.

Rams starting pitcher Milan Mantle (0-1) faced 10 Bulldog batters in the opening frame. C.T. Bradford, Alex Detz and Mitch Slauter began multi-hit plate performances with first-inning hits. Each finished the game with a double and a single. Detz drove in three runs, two on a first-inning double and Matthew Britton matched that on a 2-for-2 afternoon with a single and a double.

State starter Luis Pollorena allowed two runs on five hits over 4-1/3 innings of pitching. Freshman Myles Gentry followed Pollorena and retired the two batters he faced to close out the fifth. Senior Chad Girodo (2-0), the third of four Bulldog pitchers in the game, fanned six and blanked URI with one-hit pitching over three innings to earn the win. Rookie John Marc Shelly closed out Bulldog pitching with a scoreless ninth. State’s bullpen has now allowed four earned runs in 40.2 innings

URI shortstop Tim Caputo went 3-for-4 and scored the first of the Rams’ two runs during a four-hit URI burst in the third-inning burst.