STARKVILLE — With a busy weekend ahead, Mississippi State’s pitching staff conserved its strength and got the team off to a good start.

Junior right-hander Dakota Hudson only allowed two hits and struck out nine in six strong innings Friday, and Mississippi State beat UMass-Lowell 4-2 at Dudy Noble Field.

Relievers Vance Tatum and Blake Smith struck out three and four batters, respectively, as the MSU staff held UMass-Lowell to three hits total.

Hudson’s six innings were a career high, and he now has 17 strikeouts in his first two starts this season.

“I am proud of our staff,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said. “We faced 35 batters and struck out 16. For the most part, we are getting a lot of swing and misses this year. We are also defending the field well for the most part. These are the kinds of games we have to win. That also allows you to relax and hopefully that means a better day offensively (on Saturday).”

The Bulldogs (3-2) are playing four games this weekend. They have a split doubleheader today against Nicholls State and UMass-Lowell beginning at 11 a.m., and then finish with a single game Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against Nicholls State.

Their bats weren’t overpowering in Friday’s series opener, but Jack Kruger helped out by continuing his hot hitting at the start of the season.

Kruger went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs. He’s hitting .632 (12-for-19) in the Bulldogs’ first five games and has seven extra base hits. Kruger drew a bases-loaded walk during a three-run third inning Friday, then hit a solo home run in the seventh.

Cody Brown also had three hits, including a double, and scored on Kruger’s walk in the third. Brown’s hits were his first of the season.

UMass-Lowell got within a run, at 3-2, on a two-run homer by Steve Passtempo in the top of the seventh. Passatempo had two of the River Hawks’ three hits. He also homered in UMass-Lowell’s first game of the day, an 11-2 win over Nicholls State.

Tatum gave up the homer and ran into trouble again in the eighth, but was bailed out by Smith. The junior right-hander Smith struck out all four batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to earn his first save of the season.