Bulldogs set to hit reset button at SEC event
SEC Tournament provides fresh start for State
Today marks a fresh start for Mississippi State. As the Southeastern Conference Tournament begins in Hoover, Ala., MSU is limping into the postseason. The Bulldogs have lost five-straight games against SEC competition and gone from a surefire NCAA Tournament host and possible national seed, to the probability they'll be forced to travel when regionals start next week.
State has no time to feel sorry for itself though. MSU first-year head coach Andy Cannizaro is ready to shake off the last couple of weeks and get back on the winning track, starting with tonight's first-round win-or-go-home game against Georgia in the SEC Tournament, scheduled for approximately 8 p.m.
“It's really important,” Cannizaro said of tonight's contest. “We want to create some momentum again and continue to build our resume for the NCAA Tournament.”
Resume boosting is a task MSU didn't have on its plate as recently as two weeks ago. The first time State (34-22) faced Georgia (25-31) just 11 days ago, the maroon-and-white-clad Bulldogs were tied at the top of the overall SEC standings and were a top-10 team in most national polls. That's when MSU's splendid season, a campaign that has seen the team overcome all kinds of injuries and other issues, began to derail a bit.
State won the first game in Georgia. It has won only one other game since. That was a midweek tilt against Troy in which State had to fight back from a five-run deficit. All the misfortune came to a head last weekend when LSU swept Mississippi State and cost it a first-round SEC Tournament bye and put Mississippi State in a position where the squad is forced to regroup and pick itself back up starting today.
“We've just got to rebound,” State's Brent Rooker said.
Suddenly, MSU's RPI has fallen to 30th. State's national rankings have tumbled. Baseball America listed MSU as the country's No. 18 team on Monday. D1 Baseball, USA Today and Perfect Game all dropped Mississippi State to No. 19. Collegiate Baseball placed State at No. 21.
Still, State feels it has a special team that can make noise in Hoover this week.
“We exceeded everyone's expectations this season outside of the guys in our locker room,” Cannizaro said. “I think 17 (SEC) wins is tremendous. You finish
in fifth place in the SEC and I think you should definitely be in the NCAA Tournament, but in terms of building our resume, we still have work to do. We expect to go over there and play fundamentally
sound baseball. We expect to pitch it well, defend it well and pick up timely hitting to be able to beat Georgia. We're going to do everything we possibly can to get into that double elimination part of that tournament.”
Like his coach, Rooker remains optimistic. “We just have to keep working hard,”
Rooker said. “We'll just take it one day at the time and do everything we can to get better as a team every single day. We're going to put (the struggles) behind us as quickly as we can and move on to the postseason.”
A rough couple of weeks hasn't altered MSU's outlook for what lies ahead. State has proven all season to be resilient.
Rooker believes his team has a lot more left in the tank.
“That's where our goals start is to win in these next couple of weeks and play our best baseball in the coming weeks,” Rooker said. “We think we're in position to do that.”