BaseBall Bulldogs look for a better weekend against the talented Commodores
A cold and windy weekend in Lexington, Ky., was more than miserable for Mississippi State, but the baseball was worse.
The Diamond Dawgs followed up a seven-game winning streak by falling apart in the three-game slate against the Wildcats. An extrainning walk off thanks to two wild pitches from Nate Dohm started it, but State completely mismanaged every aspect of the next two games losing by nine runs on Saturday and getting run-ruled on Sunday.
The Bulldogs now enter an even bigger weekend on the diamond and in front of a home crowd that is hungry for better results than it's getting. MSU has lost a school-record 14-straight Southeastern Conference games, less than two years since winning the national championship.
It was against a lesser opponent in Arkansas State, but Tuesday's 16-2 blowout over the Red Wolves showed a team that was playing angry. Arkansas State coach Tommy Raffo is, ironically, being inducted into the Bulldogs' Ron Polk Ring of Honor this weekend with Mark Gillaspie and Ken Tatum and State sent his Red Wolves' team packing with a barrage of runs.
“I thought it was a lot of good at bats in a row,” Lemonis said about Tuesday. “We put together some crooked numbers there. We've had a good at-bat, a good at-bat and then a bad at-bat. We're trying to string more together. It's about having a higher level of focus and driving in some runs. I thought they did that.”
MSU freshman Bradley Loftin threw in the game and the DeSoto Central left-handed pitcher had, perhaps, his best performance of the year. In five innings, Loftin scattered three hits and didn't give up a single run with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Loftin had walked at least five batters in his previous three games started, but he was locked in against Arkansas State. Despite leading the team by a large margin with 24 walks this year, Loftin has been one of the hardest Bulldog pitchers to hit. Teams are batting just .148 against him and he's surrendered just six earned runs while striking out a team-high 39 batters in 24 innings.
The question has now been whether or not he enters SEC weekends. As a starter, that won't happen this week. The Bulldogs announced freshman Jurrangelo Cijntje would pitch again Friday while Gartman throws Saturday and a to be determined for Sunday. Loftin could be on the docket soon, though.
“He's getting closer and closer,” Lemonis said of Loftin. “You have to miss a midweek and then come back. We threw a lot arms this weekend. We needed some momentum and to play good against Arkansas State). He's pitching better every day.”
MSU's prize coming off a threegame sweep is a rematch of the 2021 national championship. The No. 4 Vanderbilt Commodores come into this weekend's matchup after a dominating first SEC series against Ole Miss in which Vanderbilt allowed just four runs in three games and swept.
The team has one of the best pitching staffs in the country this year with three left-handed starters available against a State lineup that has often struggled against those from the left side.
The Bulldogs (14-8, 0-3 SEC) will, of course, have to hit well, but the pitchers will have to keep them in the game as well. State got a boost earlier this week when Texas transfer and potential closer Aaron Nixon made his return to the mound for the first time since opening weekend. Nixon, former Friday starter Cade Smith and top left-handed bullpen arm Pico Kohn have all been out an extended time.
Getting those players back on the mound and in action could change some things for MSU starting this weekend.
“We're getting there,” Lemonis said of the pitchers out of action. “We're about to get some bullpens with some of the other guys. They're feeling good. It's just hard to rush them. It doesn't do any good. Hopefully, we'll get them back soon.”
The series was supposed to begin Friday night, but weather may have been an issue. If games stay on schedule, Saturday's game is slated for 2 p.m. and Sunday's at 1 p.m.