Mitch Moreland broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run in the 4th and Mississippi State pulled away to a 6-3 victory over Stetson in the regional opener.

The 2nd-seeded Bulldogs (34-20) broke the game open with a 3-run 6th on RBI singles by Russ Sneed and Jeffrey Rea. Joseph McCaskill's run-scoring groundout pushed the lead to 5-0. McCaskill collected 3 of the Bulldogs' 13 hits.

Stetson (41-20) countered with 3 runs in the top of the 7th when Justin Bass followed Braedyn Pruitt's RBI double with his 5th home run of the season; a 2-run shot to right.

Chad Crosswhite (8-4) earned the victory with 5.1 innings of 6-hit, shutout work for Mississippi State, which will meet the winner between Bethune-Cookman and Florida State at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Chris Ingoglia (9-6) suffered the loss for third-seeded Stetson, which will try and avoid elimination at 1 p.m. tomorrow against the Bethune-Cookman and Florida State loser.