Arizona’s Dalbec dominates Bulldogs in opener
MSU hitters can’t get going
Bobby Dalbec pitched a season-high 8⅔ scoreless innings, Cameron Ming got the final out with two on and Arizona beat Mississippi State 1-0 on Friday night in the NCAA baseball tournament’s Starkville Super Regional.
Dalbec (10-4), drafted in the fourth round by the Boston Red Sox on Friday, allowed five hits and struck out nine for Arizona (43-21).
“(Dalbec) threw a lot of first-pitch strikes,” MSU third baseman Gavin Collins said. “We were aggressive at the plate, but we didn’t do a good-enough job making adjustments when we got down in counts.”
Ryan Gridley and John Holland singled to left field with two outs in the ninth to chase Dalbec. Ming struck out Jake Mangum for his second save of the season.
Mississippi State (44-171), which finished with five hits to the Wildcats’ seven, left 10 men on base.
Mississippi State junior right-hander Dakota Hudson, the 34th overall pick Thursday by the St. Louis Cardinals, went 6⅓ innings against Arizona. He gave up one run on seven hits and a walk and struck out six. Daniel Brown pitched 2⅔ innings of hitless relief for the Bulldogs.
“It was a great pitching matchup,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “They had 10 punch outs. We had nine. They made a couple of great defensive plays, and that was really the main thing. Bobby Dalbec pitched great for them. We really didn’t make adjustments.”
Arizona designated hitter J.J. Matijevic doubled to left field to score Ryan Aguilar from first in the sixth. In the bottom half, Dalbec struck out the side for his second straight 1-23 inning.
Dalbec needed just five pitches to retire the side in the seventh and he finished the eighth after a power outage caused a 37-minute delay.
Game 2 of the best-ofthree series is today at 5 p.m. (ESPN2). A third game, if necessary, would be played at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2 or ESPNU). The series winner will advance to the College World Series beginning June 18 in Omaha, Nebraska.
“There is no doubt the guys will come out and ready to play the next two days,” Cohen said. “We certainly can win the next two days.”