Freshman pitchers Mason Hickman and Tyler Brown combined to six-hit Mississippi State, and shortstop Connor Kaiser had a big two-RBI single, as the Commodores won 4-3 and got a sweep of Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field on Sunday afternoon.
Brown pitched four scoreless innings in relief to pick up his second save, while Hickman was awarded a win and improved to 4-0.
Vanderbilt registered six hits, with Austin Martin leading the way with two. VU scored all its runs in the fifth.
The Commodores improve to 15-5 and 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference, and are in sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division.
Vanderbilt spotted MSU a two-run lead, and left four on in the first two innings against State starter Jacob Billingsley.
But Stephen Scott led off the fifth with a walk, and Martin added a one-out single. After Billingsley walked Ethan Paul on a 3-2 pitch, Bulldog coach Gary Henderson pulled Billingsley for J.P. France, who was ordered to intentionally walk the red-hot J.J. Bleday.
Kaiser made him pay, singling to left on an 0-1 pitch for a 3-2 lead.
Clarke then grounded to Hunter Stovall, who bobbled in and then threw wild to second, as Bleday scored an unearned run.
Hickman, a freshman throwing his first SEC game, gave up three runs, all earned.
The last MSU run came after Hickman walked leadoff man Tanner Allen in the sixth. Jordan Westburg singled off Brown with two outs to pull MSU to within 4-3.
The Bulldogs put the tying man on against Brown with one out in the ninth. But the freshman struck out Rowdey Jordan and Tanner Poole to end the game.
NOTES
Martin started in left, with Scott catching, and Clarke, at DH.
VU left 13 men on base.
Vanderbilt stood at 16th in the RPI, as of about 4:15 on Sunday afternoon.
SCORING SUMMARY
MSU 1: Mangum scored on Allen's sacrifice fly. MSU, 1-0
MSU 3: Mangum scored on Hickman's wild pitch. MSU, 2-0
VU 5: Scott scored on passed ball. MSU, 2-1
VU 5: Kaiser's single to left scored Bleday, Martin. VU, 3-2
VU 5: Clarke scored on Stovall's throwing error. VU, 4-2
MSU 6: Westburg single scored Allen. VU, 4-3
