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Mississippi State rallies for 6-5 CWS win over Virginia

CWS Virginia Mississippi St Baseball
Posted at 11:57 PM, Jun 22, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-22 23:57:57-04

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Kellum Clark’s eighth-inning homer ended Griff McGarry’s bid for a no-hitter, and Logan Tanner went deep three batters later to lead Mississippi State past Virginia 6-5 at the College World Series on Tuesday night.

The sudden turnaround gave the Bulldogs (47-16) control of their bracket and left them one win away from reaching the best-of-three finals next week.

McGarry, who was trying for the first CWS no-hitter since 1960, walked Scotty Dubrule leading off the eighth before Clark drove a 93-mph fastball into the right-field bullpen.

Clark’s fourth homer of the season ended a 22-inning shutout streak for Virginia (36-26) along with McGarry’s night — and marked the start of the Bulldogs’ offensive push.

Zach Messinger came on and surrendered a pinch-hit single to Josh Hatcher before Rowdey Jordan doubled to the wall in left-center.

Hatcher, who hadn’t been in a game since May 27, inexplicably stopped at third when he could have scored easily. Jordan was forced to stop halfway to third, put his arms up in frustration, and then was able to make it back to second base.

Hatcher’s baserunning error didn’t matter. Stephen Schoch (4-2) relieved, and Allen sent his second pitch into nearly the same spot in the right-field bullpen for a 5-4 lead.

Dubrule added an RBI single off Nate Savino for an insurance run that stood up after Virginia’s Chris Newell homered in the bottom half.

Cade Smith (3-0) pitched an inning for the win and Landon Sims got four outs for his 12th save.

McGarry, who was relegated to the bullpen amid struggles with his control and returned to the rotation for the NCAA Tournament, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his super-regional start against Dallas Baptist.

The senior right-hander again had good command of his fastball, working both sides of the plate and up in the strike zone, and he effectively mixed in his curve and changeup. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out eight in his 98-pitch outing.

Until Newell’s homer, five MSU relievers had held the Cavaliers scoreless after Christian MacLeod allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings in his shortest outing in 22 career starts.

UP NEXT

Mississippi State: Plays Friday against Virginia or Texas in the Bracket 2 final.

Virginia: Plays Texas in an elimination game Thursday.

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More NCAA baseball tournament coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/college-world-series and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25