Mississippi State enters elimination game vs. Notre Dame, Ole Miss season ends

No. 9 hitter David LaManna hit a three-run home run to cap a four-run fourth inning, catapulting No. 10 overall seed Notre Dame to a 9-1 victory over No. 7 seed Mississippi State in the Starkville Super Regional on Sunday, setting up a one-game showdown for a berth in the College World Series.

The Bulldogs (44-16) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Rowdey Jordan tripled on the first pitch from Notre Dame starter Aidan Tyrell (5-1) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tanner Allen on Tyrell’s second pitch, but that was it for Mississippi State. Tyrell went 7 1/3 innings, yielding five hits while striking out six. Alex Rao closed out the win by retiring all five batters he faced after coming into the game with two on and one out.

Zack Prajzner had three singles for the Fighting Irish (34-12), driving in two and scoring. Jack Brannigan made it 8-1 in favor of ND with a homer in the sixth after Prajzner led off with a hit.

The two teams will play the rubber game of the series at 6 p.m. on Monday with the winner earning one of eight spots in the CWS. The game will be shown on ESPN2.

Arizona eliminates Ole Miss

Branden Boissiere went 4-for-6 with two doubles, driving in five runs and scoring three, and No. 5 seed Arizona pounded out 20 hits to roll to a 16-3 victory over No. 12 seed Mississippi in the rubber game of the Tucson Super Regional on Sunday, earning the Wildcats a trip to the College World Series.

Arizona (45-16) scored a run in the bottom of the first when Boissiere doubled with two outs and scored on a Tony Bullard single. Ole Miss (45-22) pulled even in the top of the third when Hayden Dunhurst led off with a single, took third on a Hayden Leatherwood double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cael Baker. Arizona took over from there.

Donta Williams doubled with one out in the bottom of the third and scored on Jacob Berry’s 17th home run of the season to put the Wildcats up 3-1. Arizona added seven more runs in the fourth — on a two-run homer by Ryan Holgate, an RBI double by Williams, a three-run double by Boissiere and an RBI double by Kobe Kato — to put the game out of reach.

TJ Nichols (6-3) allowed just three hits and a run in 5 1/3 innings of relief to get the win for Arizona, striking out seven.

Taylor Broadway (4-3) took the loss for the Rebels, surrendering six runs on eight hits in three innings.