—NCAA Atlanta Regional
—Championship Game
MSU 7, Georgia Tech 3
—Bulldogs advance to Gainesville Super Regional
—MSU goes undefeated in a regional/district for the fourth time in school history; last time was 2007, when it advanced to the College World Series. MSU is heading to its fourth Super Regional since 2001.
—-Cody Freeman, Nick Vickerson, CT Bradford, Brent Brownlee, Jaron Shepherd, Nick Routt and Evan Mitchell make all-tournament team.
Who did work?
MSU: Fr. CF CT Bradford (Most Outstanding Player)
MSU”s leadoff man registered hits in his first three at bats, providing a pair of two-out, two-RBI singles to help the Bulldogs take a 6-0 lead into the fourth inning. The offense helped the Bulldogs build a lead of six runs or greater before the fourth inning for the second night in a row. Bradford ended the game 3-for-5 with a double and four RBI. For the tournament, he is 7-for-13 with two runs and five RBI. Since the SEC tournament, he is 10-of-21.
“I”ve gone up there with the mindset of making them throw as many pitches as I can and let my teammates see his arm slot and see timing and all that and it just worked out seeing it well,” Bradford said.
MSU: Jr. LHP Nick Routt
Routt was adamant he”d overcome his recent struggles of ringing up high pitch-counts, and he did just that, turning in a complete game for the fifth complete game of his career and second nine-inning. He didn”t hit 100 pitches until the ninth inning, despite giving up an RBI single and getting a visit to the mound from pitching coach Butch Thompson. Routt finished the game with a strikeout and fly ball.
His previous longest outing was an eight-inning start against LSU during his freshman year.
Routt”s only mistake was giving up a solo home run to Zane Evans. He gave up six hits and two earned runs.
“I was really just working on throwing it in the strike zone,” Routt said. “These Georgia Tech hitters were a lot different than Arkansas (whom he last faced); they swung early in counts, obviously, trying to hit the home run. Thankfully, I had a good defense behind me and the ball bounced our way.
Ga. Tech: C Zane Evans
The Georgia Tech catcher had the only piece of success against Routt, launching a two-out solo homer to left in the fifth inning that made it a 6-2 ball game. Tech, which played an afternoon game against Austin Peay, to advance to the championship game, didn”t have much of an answer for Nick Routt. Tech didn”t get much help from its field, committing five errors that led to six unearned runs.
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