Mississippi State tops Stanford 6-2 in NCAA super regionals
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Ethan Small struck out eight over six innings, Dustin Skelton hit two doubles and Mississippi State beat Stanford 6-2 in the first game of the NCAA Tournament's best-of-three super regionals.
Mississippi State (50-13) slowly broke the game open with one run in the second, two in the third and three more in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. The Bulldogs pounded 12 hits, including five doubles.
Small (10-2) gave up just five hits and one unearned run. The left hander, who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 28th overall pick earlier this week, has 168 strikeouts this season in 102 innings.
Stanford (45-13) jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Andrew Daschbach's sacrifice fly, but didn't score again until the eighth. Brendan Beck (5-4) took the loss, giving up five earned runs over three innings.
