Bryce Cunningham throws complete game shutout for Vanderbilt baseball vs Mississippi State

Bryce Cunningham threw a complete game shutout to open Vanderbilt baseball’s series with a 4-0 win over Mississippi State.

Cunningham allowed just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in the victory. It was the Commodores’ second complete game shutout of the season, as Devin Futrell also threw one in a win over Illinois State in March.

“I think it was a mindset, just attacking them best I could, trusting my defense ultimately in a showdown tonight,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham threw a season-high 122 pitches. Coach Tim Corbin said that he considered pulling Cunningham from the game and that the final batter of the game, when the Bulldogs’ Connor Hujsak popped up to third base, would’ve been Cunningham’s last regardless.

Vanderbilt is playing shorthanded on the pitching staff as JD Thompson is suspended for use of a foreign substance and Ethan McElvain is not on the active roster for the weekend due to a back injury, leaving the Commodores with 12 available pitchers.

Vanderbilt (31-11, 11-8 SEC) got home runs from Jonathan Vastine and Alan Espinal in the first inning to get out to an early lead, then later tacked on runs with a Colin Barczi RBI groundout and an RJ Austin sacrifice fly. Mississippi State (27-15, 10-9) only got a runner into scoring position once, when Hujsak doubled in the seventh inning and went to third on an error.

Cunningham got a groundout to end that threat.

The Bulldogs’ starter, Khal Stephen, put up a strong performance himself. In 7⅓ innings, he allowed four runs with one walk and six strikeouts. At one point, he retired 15 Vanderbilt batters in a row.

“The seventh inning, that was kind of a balancing act because Stephen went through us 1-2-3, I think it was three times in a row, may have been four, but when he did it in the (sixth), you could feel the momentum start to sway,” Corbin said. “So when Bryce stranded the first and third, that was a big moment for us, just to kind of maintain order in the game.”

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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.