STARKVILLE - Offense ruled the night at Dudy Noble Field, as the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program slugged it was to a 10-2 victory over Samford on Tuesday (March 16) evening. The Diamond Dawgs hit three home runs and put 18 runners on base throughout the evening en route to its 11th home victory of the season.

The scoring got started with a single Mississippi State (14-3) run in the third inning, before a three-run fourth and a six-run sixth. Samford (7-10) got single runs in the seventh and eighth inning to cap the scoring.

Luke Hancock smacked a pair of home runs to push his season total to five. He is the first Bulldog since Josh Hatcher against South Carolina on May 17, 2019 to hit two home runs in a game. Ironically enough, Hatcher had the other round tripper for MSU, his first of the season.

Overall, Hancock was 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and three RBIs on the night. Hatcher homered, walked and scored two runs, while Scotty Dubrule walked three times and singled in four plate appearances. Dubrule scored once and plated one RBI.

Nine different Diamond Dawgs collected hits and eight MSU hitters drove in RBIs in the game, as the offense churned out 10 hits, walked eight times and reached via one hit-by-pitch.

Brandon Smith (3-0) picked up the win in relief of MSU starting pitcher Houston Harding. Smith retired all five batters he faced in 1 2/3 innings of work with one strikeout. Harding allowed four hits in 3 1/3 scoreless innings and two strikeouts. Five other pitchers recorded out for State, highlighted by a three-strikeout inning from Parker Stinnett and two strikeouts from Stone Simmons in a clean ninth inning.