Connect with us
Bulldogs

NCAA Baseball

Bulldogs Protect Home from Irish in Game 1 of Super Regionals

The offense came out to shine Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of the super regionals between No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 7 Mississippi State. 

Mississippi State stormed back from four runs down in the fifth to eventually win 9-8, capped off by a Logan Tanner home run in the seventh. 

Landon Sims closed things out for the Bulldogs with a six-out save on only 28 pitches. 

Bulldogs’ Bite

The Mississippi State bats were able to do something that hadn’t happened much this season, chase Notre Dame starter John Bertrand out of the game early. Bertrand had three complete games on the season, including last week in Game 1 of the regionals against Central Michigan. 

Today, Bertrand could only make it into the fifth inning, finishing the day allowing five runs (four earned) in four-plus innings.  

After allowing three runs in the top of the inning, the Bulldogs were down 7-3 in the bottom of the fifth. They responded with six runs in the next three innings. 

Joining Tanner with long balls for Mississippi State were Rowdey Jordan and Tanner Allen. Jordan’s two-run blast in the sixth appeared to go into and knock centerfielder Spencer Myers’ glove off and over the fence. 

Not So Lucky

Mississippi State’s offense was helped out by some uncharacteristically poor defense from Notre Dame.

The Irish led the nation with a .984 fielding percentage and hadn’t committed three errors in a single game all season. Today they had four.

Mississippi State scored on three of the plays, and the fourth led to Bertrand being pulled. 

Shortstop Zack Prajzner had two throwing errors in the momentum-shifting fifth inning. 

Luck Power of the Irish

It wasn’t all rough for Prajzner. He went deep in the fifth inning with a three-run shot and later tied the game in the seventh on an RBI double. He finished the day 3-for-4 with four RBIs. 

Brooks Coetzee also had a homerun for the Irish, a solo shot on the first pitch of the second inning.

Notre Dame has been killing the ball through the regionals and now into the super regionals. The Irish have scored 59 runs through four games, with 17 home runs. 

Up Next

The Bulldogs and Irish are back on the field tomorrow in Game 2 of the three-game elimination series. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 pm EST at Mississippi State’s Dudy Noble Field. 

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

More in NCAA Baseball