With their backs against the wall, Mississippi State faced a formidable challenge on Sunday morning-winning three games in 24 hours to secure a spot in the Super Regionals. Their first hurdle was a rematch with St. John’s, a battle for the right to face Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional Championship game later that night.

Sunday morning was all about short-term memory. The Bulldogs needed to overcome Saturday night’s disappointment to continue the season by a mere hour.

Mississippi State started a bit slow through two innings before opening up the bats to score four runs in the top of the third to make it 4-0 in advantage of the Bulldogs. Mississippi State would add two more to make it 6-0 in favor of the Bulldogs in the 4th. St. John’s would respond in the bottom of the 4th with a pair of runs to cut into the Mississippi State 6-2 lead. A wild bottom of the 5th would give St. John’s two more runs, making it 6-4 in favor of the Bulldogs.

Amani Larry would start the 6th inning with a base hit before David Mershon stepped into the batter box, hammering a two-run shot to left field to extend the Mississippi State lead to 8-4. Mississippi State would add two more runs in the top of the 8th to give the Bulldogs a 10-4 cushion to work in the final two innings. St. John’s would cut into the lead by scoring a run in the bottom of the 8th, making it 10-5 in favor of Mississippi State heading to the 9th inning. Dakota Jordan would add a three-run shot of his own during the top of the 9th to make it 13-5 in favor of Mississippi State.

Thirteen runs would be enough for Mississippi State as they defeat St. John’s to advance to the Charlottesville Regional Championship against Virginia on Sunday night. Mississippi State will need two wins over the Cavs to advance to the Super Regionals. Last night, the Bulldogs had every chance to secure a victory over Virginia but were unsuccessful in the later part of the game with fielding errors.

The first pitch between Mississippi State and Virginia will be at 5:00.