Mississippi State Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt, headed to College World Series
Published 12:49 am Monday, June 11, 2018
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tanner Allen’s double in the 11th inning drove in the go-ahead run and sparked a four-run rally as Mississippi State outlasted Vanderbilt 10-6 on Sunday night to advance to the College World Series.
Allen’s line drive into the right-field corner scored pinch-hitter Josh Hatcher, who had walked to lead off the inning. Mississippi State (37-27), which will be headed to Omaha for the first time since 2013, later scored a second run when Justin Foscue drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Rowdey Jordan, who had reached on an infield single. Luke Alexander followed with a two-run single to push the Bulldogs’ lead to four runs.
The State rally made a winner of reliever Denver McQuary (2-2), who faced just two batters. Keegan James pitched a scoreless bottom of the 11th to pick up the save.
Tyler Brown (1-5) took the loss for Vanderbilt.
The game lasted 5 hours, 15 minutes, and its start was delayed two hours because of lightning in the area.
Vanderbilt (35-27) had rallied from three runs down in the ninth inning to force extra innings after Mississippi State had scored three times to take the lead in the top half of the frame. Pat DeMarco hammered a one-out home run to left off Bulldogs reliever Riley Self to cut the Mississippi State lead to 6-4. Harrison Ray then delivered a single, just ahead of a tying home run into the right-field stands by Ethan Paul to force extra innings.
In the top of the ninth, Mississippi State’s Jake Mangum lined an RBI double down the right field line to plate the first of the Bulldogs’ Mississippi State three runs in the inning to take a 4-3 lead.
Mangum, a switch hitter batting right-handed, hit the first pitch he saw from Vanderbilt left-hander Jackson Gillis into the right field corner to score Alexander with the go-ahead run for the Bulldogs. Jordan followed that with a sacrifice fly that scored pinch runner Jordan Anderson, and Mangum himself scored on a wild pitch as Mississippi State had seemingly broke the game open.