STARKVILLE, Miss. - It was not the offensive outburst fifth-ranked Mississippi State showed over the weekend but the results on the mound stayed the same.

The Bulldogs improved to 5-0 on the season with a 2-0 victory over Grambling State Tuesday night. MSU's pitching staff has only allowed three runs all season and have now posted back-to-back shutouts.

"It was just one of those games," said MSU skipper John Cohen. "I told our team before the game, we're really not playing Grambling. We're playing against the game itself and the elements and I thought for the most part we did a pretty good job of it."

Sophomore right-hander Brandon Woodruff picked up the win in his first outing of the year. Woodruff posted a career-high eight strikeouts over six innings scattering five hits and one walk.

"I think this is just the third time I've seen hitters since the beginning of the fall and this is one that counted," Woodruff said. "This was a real game and it felt great to be back out there. My change-up was really working for me. I was getting a lot of swings and misses with my change-up. That was basically the pitch for me tonight."

The combination of relievers Myles Gentry, C.T. Bradford, Preston Brown and Ross Mitchell gave up only one hit and set the stage for All-American closer Jonathan Holder to come in and notch his second save of the spring.



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