NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Redshirt freshman Cole Gordon’s RBI single in the top half of the 13th inning lifted No. 15 Mississippi State past No. 2 Vanderbilt 2-1 in both teams’ SEC opener Friday at Hawkins Field.

MSU (13-5-1, 1-0 SEC) gained some momentum with three wins over Top 10-foe Oregon last weekend before dropping two midweek games. The Bulldogs again rode stellar pitching to kick off their 30-game conference slate on the right foot Friday night.

Junior right-hander Dakota Hudson continued his dominance with another quality start, allowing four hits and one unearned run with eight strikeouts and two walks in nine innings of work. Blake Smith worked the 10th inning.

Kale Breaux was lifted after getting two batters in the 11th inning. From there, Ryan Rigby (1-0) completed the contest with 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief.

MSU scored its lone run in regulation in the first inning. Jacob Robson had a leadoff double and later scored on one of Vanderbilt’s two errors in the contest.

The Bulldog kept flirting with expansion of the lead from there, leaving the bases loaded in both the second and third innings. For the contest, MSU stranded 16 base runners.

Vanderbilt (16-2, 0-1 SEC) pulled even in the home half of the fourth inning, also on an unearned run. Will Toffey reached on a throwing error and scored on a base hit by Alonzo Jones.

Things stayed that way until the 13th inning. Luke Alexander, who led an outstanding defensive effort by the Bulldogs, hit a one-out double and scored when Gordon blooped a two-out single to shallow left field.

Vanderbilt right-hander Matt Rupenthal (0-1) pitched the final seven innings and took the loss.

Mississippi State Sports Information