STARKVILLE, Miss. – Brent Lewis’ pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the
fifth blew open a scoreless game and No. 10 Mississippi State cruised to a 9-1
win in the rubber match of its three-game Southeastern Conference series with
Vanderbilt, Sunday, March 16, at Dudy Noble Field.

MSU starter Todd Nicholas (2-0), who carried a no hitter into the fifth
inning, scattered four hits and recorded four strikeouts while walking three
in 6.1 innings to earn the win. Freshman left-hander Ryan Mullins (1-2) took
the loss.

Mullins pitched out of jams in the second, third and fourth inning before the
Bulldogs scored in the fifth. A lead off single by Matthew Maniscalco, walk to
Steve Gendron and infield single by Matthew Brinson loaded the bases for Brad
Corley. Corley hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Maniscalco to
give MSU a 1-0. Mullins was pulled for reliever Matt Buschmann who gave up a
walk to Craig Tatum that reloaded the bases for Lewis.

The Bulldogs scored four more times in the seventh on three consecutive RBI
doubles off Commodore reliever John Scott. Jon Mungle’s RBI double to right
field scored Lewis. Maniscalco’s double along the right-field line scored
Thomas Berkery and Gendron’s double off the left-field wall plated Mungle and
Maniscalco.

The Commodores had their chances to get back in the game, trailing 5-0. In
the fifth inning Matt McGraner was thrown out at home attempting to score on a passed ball with the bases loaded. After Rucker Taylor walked to reload the
bases, Ryan Klosterman popped out to shallow right field and Cesar Nicolas
flew out to center to end the inning.

In the sixth inning, Zach Simpson hit a one-out bases-loaded chopper to first
base and legged out a single to score Ryan Godfrey from third to bring
Vanderbilt within a 5-1 score. But Warner Jones popped out to second and
Rucker Taylor ground out to first to end the Commodore threat. Vanderbilt returns to action Wednesday when it plays host to Lispscomb at 3
p.m. The Commodores play their SEC home opener this weekend against Ole Miss.

Game times are Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m.