STARKVILLE — Mississippi State didn’t record a single shutout during the 2014 season. This weekend, it got two.

Zac Houston struck out 10 batters and allowed only three hits Sunday as Mississippi State beat Nicholls State 8-0 at Dudy Noble Field.

Relievers Kale Breaux, Noah Hughes and Paul Young each pitched an inning of shutout relief as the Bulldogs (6-2) blanked Nicholls State (4-5) for the second straight day and completed a four-game sweep of a split weekend series with the Colonels and UMass-Lowell.

“This was a good weekend,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “Playing four games really tests your kids mentally. We knew our starters had to come out and perform better this weekend. Each one of them made some adjustments, and you could tell the type of stuff that each one has.”

Mississippi State outscored Nicholls State and UMass-Lowell 21-4 in their four games this weekend. Its starting pitchers did not allow a run and struck out 34 batters in 26 2/3 combined innings.

Houston (1-0), a junior right-hander, nailed down his first career win with a career-high 10 strikeouts in a career-best six innings. MSU starters have now struck out 10 or more batters in four straight games for the first time since Feb. 25-Mar. 2, 2012.

“I thought Zac looked really good today. His first two innings were a little shaky with his command. Credit (pitching coach) Wes Johnson, he took him out in the bullpen after the second inning and they got his delivery ironed out. They made a great adjustment,” Cohen said.

Offensively, Mississippi State (6-2) jumped on Nicholls early by scoring twice in the first inning and four times in the second.

Gavin Collins and Nathaniel Lowe each had an RBI single in the first inning, and Brent Rooker keyed the big second inning with a two-run double.

Nicholls reliever Mike Hanchar entered the game late in the second inning and only allowed one hit over four innings. The Bulldogs got to his replacements, however, adding two more runs in the eighth inning on an RBI triple by Cody Brown and an RBI single by Rooker.

Rooker finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Reid Humphreys had two hits, and Jacob Robson singled, walked twice and scored three runs.

“I thought the first two innings we were really locked in,” Cohen said. “They brought in that Hanchar kid and he’s pitched really well against us. He mixed pitches. We hit some balls hard but couldn’t put anything together for a while. Then we get to the eighth inning and got a big couple of runs.”