Mississippi State beats Cincinnati 10-5, one win from regional title

Mississippi State defeated Cincinnati 10-5 on Saturday in the winner’s bracket game of the Starkville Regional, the schools said. The top-seeded Bulldogs improved to 42-17 while Cincinnati fell to 38-21, Mississippi State said.

Right-hander Tomas Valincius struck out 10 and allowed two runs over 7 1/3 innings to earn his 11th win of the season, Mississippi State said.

Mississippi State opened the scoring on a solo home run by Ace Reese in the first inning and broke the game open with three runs in the fifth, four in the sixth and two in the seventh, the Bulldogs said. Reed Stallman drove in three runs on two doubles, Gehrig Frei had a two-run single, Bryce Chance added an RBI and Kevin Milewski hit a two-run homer, Mississippi State said. Vytas Valincius scored on a wild pitch, the team added.

Cincinnati scored twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth as it tried to rally, but Mississippi State reliever Ben Davis recorded the final outs to end the game, the Bulldogs said.

Mississippi State is one win shy of the regional title and will play the winner of Sunday’s elimination game between Cincinnati and Louisiana at 7 p.m., the schedule shows. If Mississippi State loses, a winner-take-all final will be played Monday, the schedule said.

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