StarkVegas Scores Late to Even Fall World Series
November 18, 2017 | Baseball
JACKSON, Miss. – StarkVegas outlasted HailState with a mix of dominant pitching and late-game hitting in Game Two of Mississippi State baseball's Fall World Series, forcing a rubber game in Sunday's finale.
"Today was an outstanding day of baseball for us," MSU head baseball coach Andy Cannizaro said. "It was a great day in terms of all around hitting, pitching and defense."
The StarkVegas pitching staff shut out HailState batters, combining for six innings with seven strikeouts, while just allowing two walks and three hits.
"I thought the combination of Pilkington, Gordon and Small was outstanding," Cannizaro said. "They controlled the ball game, dominated the hitters -- every one of those guys was up to 94 to 95 miles per hour today, with secondary stuff for called strikes, and, consequently, they shut the other team out."
Junior Konnor Pilkington started on the mound for StarkVegas, tossing two strikeouts in as many innings pitched. Cole Gordon followed him with two more innings, and escaped a jam in the third.
Sophomore Ethan Small closed out the game with an exclamation point, striking out five batters in the final two innings while allowing just one hit.
Freshman Jordan Anderson's sacrifice fly in the fifth put StarkVegas on the board, followed by runs on two wild pitches, one later in the fifth and another in the sixth.
Junior shortstop Hunter Stovall put up a three-hit day for StarkVegas, and scored via the fifth inning wild pitch after stealing third.
Senior Jacob Billingsley put up two no-hit innings for HailState, striking out four, as senior J.P. France relieved him and pitched two more shutout innings as the teams played to a scoreless tie through four.
Sophomore Trysten Barlow surrendered the lead in the fifth inning, and allowed three runs on three hits and two walks as he finished the game.
StarkVegas and HailState will play their rubber game on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson. Sunday's finale is the final chance to see the Diamond Dawgs in action this fall, and admission is free.
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
