From Mississippi State Athletics
STARKVILLE – It is one step at a time for the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program and on Saturday (June 1), the program took another step towards the ultimate goal with a 7-2 victory over Central Michigan at Dudy Noble Field in front of the eight-largest crowd to ever watch an NCAA Regional game.
Quick Hitters
Mississippi State
Pack The Dude – The 11,511 fans in attendance at Saturday’s game mark the largest NCAA Regional crowd and 22nd largest overall crowd in program history. It also marks the eighth 10,000-plus crowd of the 2019 campaign, equaling the school-record mark of the 2016 squad. The total is also the eighth largest NCAA Regional Crowd in NCAA history.
Ethan Small – Struck out 10 to become the third MSU pitcher to amass 300-plus strikeouts in a career, throwing six innings and allowing just two runs to collect the win. Moved his season total to 160 strikeouts, pushing him all the way into No. 9 on the Southeastern Conference’s single-season list.
Tanner Allen – Posted a 4-for-5 night at the plate with two runs scored and one RBI.
Two RBI Nights – The trio of Josh Hatcher, Elijah MacNamee and Rowdey Jordan all posted two RBIs in the game.
5 Through 8 – Mississippi State’s 5-8 hitters in tonight’s lineup went  9-for-17 with four runs scored and four RBIs.
Central Michigan
Jason Sullivan – Went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.
Zavier Warren – Was 1-for-1 with three walks and a run scored.
Scoring Recap
Top First
Seven-straight hits following a leadoff ground out produced four runs and an early lead for MSU. Jordan Westburg started off the inning with a one-out single and Tanner Allen followed with a base hit. Elijah MacNamee scored both runners with a double down the right-field line but was caught straying off of second for the second out of the inning. Justin Foscue and Dustin Skelton followed with base hits, before Rowdey Jordan and Josh Hatcher posted RBI singles.
Mississippi State 4, Central Michigan 0
Top Third
State added two more runs with five-straight hits to start the inning. Foscue and Skelton started the inning with back-to-back singles, before back-to-back RBI singles from Jordan and Hatcher pushed MSU’s lead to six runs.
Mississippi State 6, Central Michigan 0
Bottom Sixth
Ethan Small‘s only blip on an otherwise outstanding evening on the mound came with two outs in the sixth inning. A leadoff single by Zavier Warren was followed by a flyout and strikeout, before Jason Sullivan hit his second home run of the season – a two-run shot – to right field.
Mississippi State 6, Central Michigan 2
Top Ninth
Tanner Allen hit his seventh home run of the season down the right-field line to lead off the inning.
Mississippi State 7, Central Michigan 2
Up Next
Mississippi State will await the winner of Miami (Fla.)/Central Michigan at 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 2. UM and CMU will meet at 2 p.m. Television/Streaming information will be distributed by ESPN and the NCAA on Sunday morning.
The Diamond Dawgs will be the home team in the case that Central Michigan wins the first game of the day but will be the visitors if the Hurricanes claim game one of the day. Either way, State will remain in the third-base dugout.
