sports@starkvilledailynews.com
It’s always incredibly nice to get a big helping hand from your friends, particularly when the stakes are high.
As Mississippi State battled Stanford in the opening game of the Starkville Super Regional on Saturday night, Ethan Small was on the mound and starting for the Bulldogs. Small – a first-round Major League Baseball Draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this week – hadn’t given up more than 3 runs in an entire start all season. Yet here Small was in the top of the first with the bases loaded watching a deep drive to centerfield off the bat of Stanford’s Andrew Daschbach that, if it cleared the wall, would be four runs on one swing.