TicketsSTARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 2 seed Cincinnati baseball team dropped a 10-5 decision to top-seeded Mississippi State in front of 11,588 fans Saturday night at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bearcats, 38-21 on the year, will face No. 3 seed Louisiana in an elimination game at 3 p.m. ET Sunday. The winner of that game will go on to face the Bulldogs at 8 p.m.
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Ryan Tyranski drove in a pair while Jack Natili, Christian Mitchelle and Charlie Niehaus each plated a run for Cincinnati, but Bulldogs’ starter Tomas Valincius held the Bearcats in check for most of the evening, retiring 17 of 18 at one point, to earn the win to improve to 11-2 on the year. He surrendered three runs on five hits over 7.1 innings, striking out 10 and walking a pair.
Cincinnati right-hander Logan Knight got the start on the bump and kept the Bearcats in it, allowing one earned run on six hits with three walks and a trio of strikeouts over 3.2 innings in a no-decision.
“I haven’t had a ton of time to gather thoughts, but obviously, big credit to Mississippi State,” Cincinnati head coach Jordan Bischel said. “(Valincius) did an awesome job and came after the strike zone. I think that the biggest difference in the game is they just pounded the heck out of the strike zone and we really didn’t. That drove the pitch count up, put a lot of pressure on us and I think that was a huge difference, so big credit to Mississippi State. We just have to get home and get some rest and get ready to play a really good Louisiana team tomorrow.”
For the second-straight night, the Bearcats fell behind early. After Valincius struck out the side in the top of the first, Ace Reese gave the Bulldogs the lead with a solo home run to center with one down in the bottom of the inning off Knight. Noah Sullivan followed with a double down the left-field line, but the Bearcats’ senior settled down to fan Jacob Parker before a Vytas Valincius fly out to left ended the frame.
However, Cincinnati answered right back to knot the score in the top of the second. With one down, Enzo Infelise singled down the left-field line. Cal Sefcik followed by lacing a shot that caromed off the right-field wall and one-hopped straight to Parker, who cut down the Bearcats’ left fielder on his way to second for the second out of the inning. However, Mitchelle picked him up with an RBI double down the line in left to score Infelise and make it a 1-1 contest.
With runners at the corners after a walk and a single in the Bulldogs’ half of the third, Natili caught Parker trying to swipe second and, after a walk to Vytas Valincius, Knight got out of the jam by freezing Reed Stallman to keep the game knotted at 1-1. Knight retired the first two batters of the fourth but an error, followed by a bloop single by Gehrig Frei and a walk to Reese, chased the senior from the game in favor of sophomore Adam Buczkowski. The sidewinder responded by getting to Sullivan to pop out to end the threat.
But, after Valincius retired 10 Bearcats in a row, the Bulldogs broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fifth. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases with two down, but an infield single by Bryce Chance scored Parker, once a lengthy replay review confirmed Kevin Milewski beat Niehaus’ throw to the bag after a brilliant diving stop in the hole. Frei then singled up the middle past a lunging Jackson Smith to plate two more for the 4-1 lead.
The Bulldogs then added four more in the sixth, capped off by a two-out, two-run shot to right by Milewski, and two more in the seventh to make it 10-1.
Cincinnati got two back in the eighth on a Tyranski RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by Natili but Ben Davis came on to induce an inning-ending fielder’s choice to end the rally.
The Bearcats then made things interesting in the ninth. Sefcik singled before Mitchelle reached on a fielder’s choice and an error allowed Sefcik to advance safely. Smith lined a single to center to load the bases and Niehaus followed with his own single to center to plate Sefcik. Tyranski’s bid for extra bases on a hard-grounder down the first-base line was thwarted by an excellent play by Stallman, who recorded the first out of the frame as Mitchelle crossed home to make it 10-5. However, Davis struck out Derrick Pitts and Quinton Coats to end it as the Bulldogs remained undefeated in the Regional.