Vanderbilt baseball back in SEC tournament semifinals after win over Mississippi State

HOOVER, Ala. — Vanderbilt baseball was on the NCAA tournament bubble a week ago. Now, not only is its position solidified regardless, the Commodores are two wins away from an automatic bid.

The Commodores (38-20) got off to a quick start and built a three-run lead in the early innings thanks to timely hits and a strong performance from starter JD Thompson against Mississippi State in a 4-3 win that concluded early Friday morning. In a reversal from Wednesday, when Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 13-4, this game was a low-scoring pitchers duel. The Commodores and Bulldogs (38-20) combined for just three extra-base hits.

For the second straight year, Vanderbilt will advance to the SEC tournament semifinals and will rematch with either Mississippi State or Tennessee on Saturday at approximately 3:30 p.m. CT, with a day off Friday. The semifinal is single elimination, with the loser going home.

The victory makes Tim Corbin the winningest coach in SEC tournament history.

Pitchers duel

The two starting pitchers, Jurrangelo Cijntje for Mississippi State and JD Thompson for Vanderbilt, both got off to strong starts. Cijntje struck out the first six batters he faced, while Thompson also struck out three in the first inning while working around a single and hit batter.

The Commodores struggled to make contact off Cijntje, who struck out double-digit batters again with 10 strikeouts after punching out 11 when he pitched against Vanderbilt in April.

Thompson finished with one run allowed in six innings with one walk and eight strikeouts despite pitching on just four days of rest.

Greysen Carter relieved Thompson and got two quick outs but committed a throwing error on a routine ground ball, then walked the next two batters and was pulled from the game. Ryan Ginther ended the threat by striking out Dakota Jordan with the bases loaded.

2014 TITLE Inside the turning points in Vanderbilt baseball's 2014 national title run, a decade later

Vanderbilt strings hits together

Vanderbilt didn't get an extra-base hit off Cijntje but managed to string enough hits together to score four runs.

Davis Diaz got the Commodores on the board first in the third inning with a two-run single after Vanderbilt loaded the bases with a single, a bunt single, a sacrifice bunt and a hit batter.

The Commodores also scored a run in the fifth inning on a wild pitch and in the seventh on an RBI single by Calvin Hewett.

The lone extra-base hit of the game for Vanderbilt came on an RJ Austin double in the eighth inning, but he was left stranded.

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

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt baseball beats Mississippi State, advances in SEC tournament