Pitching dooms Bulldogs in first game of the day

Saturday was the first time this season that the Mississippi State Bulldogs lost a Southeastern Conference series at home and it wasn't a pretty sight.

MSU lost a Southeastern Conference doubleheader 17-8 and 5-3 and head baseball coach Andy Cannizaro said it was not a good day for the team.

The hitting is not what let the Bulldogs down in the first game on Saturday. It was the pitching.

Allowing 17 runs was the most given up by MSU in an SEC game this season. The Bulldogs gave up 14 hits, had eight walks, hit five batters and threw six wild pitches. Those numbers won't win many games.

"The outcome was most definitely a disappointing," Cannizaro said. "We gave up 17 runs in three innings. We counted it up and we gave them 21 free bases (on Saturday). It was not a clean day of baseball. We will continue to work on it."

If there is one major concern about MSU moving into the latter portion of the regular season and into the postseason, it's the pitching.

The Bulldogs have a very good starter in Konnor Pilkington to open series, but have been needing that second and third starter to step up pretty much the entire season. Right now, Cole Gordon and Jacob Billingsley are trying to fill those roles and need to give MSU some solid outings down the stretch.

It has been a credit to Cannizaro and pitching coach Gary Henderson to piece things together to get the Bulldogs 14 conference wins this season. They are going to continue to seek pitchers that will avoid wildness and keep opposing hitters off balance.

Pitchers just need to step up and perform for MSU when their number is called.

The Bulldogs, especially Brent Rooker, continue to get enough offense to win

games.

Rooker gets plenty of publicity as the power source for MSU and it is much deserved. He hit two more home runs on Saturday and now has 19 this season.

The Bulldogs wouldn't be tied at the top of the SEC right now if it were not for Rooker and his big bat.

Not far down in the batting order from Rooker, there are two veteran players in Ryan Gridley and Cody Brown that are just as key to keeping MSU at the top of the league standings.

Gridley was very good on Friday night as his three hits helped the Bulldogs get the series started on the right note with a 4-2 victory.

In Saturday's first game, Gridley may have only added a double to his offensive numbers, but he was still playing good defense until the end.

Gridley fielded a play near the second base bag and while on his back, threw to

first base to retire Josh Anthony.

The game was pretty much out of reach at that point with MSU already down 178, but Gridley wasn't going to let that stop him from making a tough play.

Brown was the player that was dialed in on defense on Friday night. He threw out an Auburn baserunner at second base in the seventh inning, who was trying to stretch a single into a double.

The bat was good for Brown on Saturday as he contributed to the 11-hit attack for the Bulldogs in the first game with a RBI double and a three-run home run.

With the homer, Brown got MSU within striking distance at 9-7 in the fifth inning.

Bragg also took advantage of the wind blowing out by hitting a pitch out of the park.

Danny P. Smith is the sports editor and columnist for The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SDN or its staff.