Dogs Shut Out Kansas 5-0
March 05, 2005 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State senior righthander Todd Doolittle threw six innings of no-hit baseball Saturday afternoon helping the Bulldogs (5-0) notch a 5-0 win over Kansas (13-7) in second-day competition at the National Bank of Commerce Classic. In Saturday's other contest at Dudy noble Field, Kansas scored six runs in the eighth inning to top Austin Peay 11-4.
The fifth-annual NBC Classic concludes Sunday at noon with a second Mississippi State-Kansas matchup.
"The pitching was really great today," MSU coach Ron Polk said. "There were not a lot of hard-hit balls. Fortunately, we had a big first inning."
The Bulldogs collected five consecutive hit to strike for four first-inning runs off KU starter Mike Zagurski (3-2). Thomas Berkery started things with a one-out single to right field. Brad Corley followed with an RBI triple down the left field line. Brad Jones then slapped an RBI single to right center. Brian LaNinfa singled through the left side of the infield and Bunky Kateon followed with a run-scoring hit to cap the big inning.
After that, the Kansas lefty found his groove, allowing just six hits and one more run in a complete-game effort. Kateon legged out a two-out double and scored the game's final run in the eighth on a single by freshman catcher Ed Easley.
The big first inning was more than enough for Doolittle, a senior righthander from Meridian Community College. Doolittle threw 84 pitches and faced three batters over the minimum. He struck out seven and walked two. The only MSU error in the contest allowed the other Kansas base runner to reach.
Lifted by a pitch count in his first start of the season, Doolittle was replaced by Saunders Ramsey in the MSU seventh inning. Ramsey retired a pair of batters but was also touched for the only two Kansas hits in the contest. Junior southpaw Brooks Dunn finished the seventh inning for Ramsey and was replaced in the ninth by Mike Valentine.
Zagurski (3-2) scattered the 11 hits and allowed five runs (all earned) with eight strikeouts and one walk.
"This has been a good weekend for our team," Polk said. "Hopefully, we can come out and score some runs tomorrow. The pitching has done a great job of giving us a chance to win this weekend."
Kateon went 3-for-3 with a double and a walk to lead the 11-hit MSU attack. Easley added a pair of hits. Gus Milner and A.J. Van Slyke had the lone Kansas hits.
Sunday's game matches a pair of righthanders ?€? KU's Kodiak Quick (4-0, 1.11 ERA) and MSU sophomore Josh Johnson (0-0, 9.00 ERA).
