Video: No. 21 MSU Baseball Sweeps No. 10 Oregon

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics / WCBI Sports) – The No. 21 Mississippi State baseball completed a three-game series sweep of Pac-12 foe and 10th-ranked Oregon by taking a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.

The Bulldogs improved to 12-3-1 overall and 4-0 in a six-game homestand which will lead up to the SEC opener Friday night in Nashville against No. 2 Vanderbilt.

“Oregon is a good club but they did not play well on this trip,” MSU head coach John Cohen said. “They have some outstanding starting pitching. In their ballpark, they will win a ton of games. It was an excellent set of wins for us.”

After taking a 10-4 victory Friday and a 9-3 win Saturday, MSU followed a similar script with strong starting pitching from junior left-hander Daniel Brown and timely two-out hitting.

Brown (2-0) gave the squad its second quality start of the weekend and sixth for the season by throwing seven innings of shutout baseball, allowing four hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Vance Tatum overcame a pair of home runs to complete the eighth inning. Reid Humphreys retired the side in order in the ninth inning for his second save.

“Daniel was really throwing strikes,” Cohen said. “Even though he didn’t have a high number of strikeouts, he was really challenging hitters. He was around 90 pitches and he was begging us to go back out there but we really got what we needed out of him.

“Vance allowed a couple of home runs but that is our fault. We were telling him to throw it in the zone with a 5-0 lead. Reid was great in the ninth inning. He is really going to help us.”

MSU scored single runs in first and fifth innings and blew the contest open with three runs in the sixth inning. It was a second straight game that the Bulldogs carried a shutout into the eighth inning.

In the first inning, Jacob Robson singled and later scored on an RBI-hit by Humphreys. In the fifth inning, Brent Rooker singled and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Humphreys.

Ryan Gridley walked to start the MSU sixth inning. Gridley took second and third on outs before scoring on a hit by Robson. The two-out hitting continued in the frame when Rooker smashed a two-run home run – his second of the season.

Rooker became the first Bulldog to reach 20 RBIs this season.

MSU finished with nine hits Sunday and 33 hits for the series. Rooker had three hits, while Robson and Gridley had two hits apiece.

Oregon (8-5) received home runs from Travis Moniot and A.J. Balta. The Ducks had two other threats stuff by double plays – giving the Bulldogs 14 for the season.

MSU will play host to Eastern Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Oral Roberts at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to close the homestand. Both games will be available nationally on SEC Network +.