MSU's Pilkington looks to get back on track against Florida
As the ace of the Mississippi State pitching staff, the Bulldogs rely heavily on Konnor Pilkington. More often than not over his Bulldog career, the junior left-hander has delivered, however that hasn't been the case the last two weeks.
As MSU prepares to begin a threegame series against top-ranked Florida tonight, State desperately needs Pilkington to return to form. Pilkington has now gone back-to-back starts in which he has gone just 4.2 innings and allowed seven runs in each.
“The pitch total is up,” MSU interim head coach Gary Henderson said of Pilkington's struggles. “I think the command, which was elite command for the first four or five starts this year, has not been there the last two or three starts.”
Pilkington has indeed battled control issues the last few times out. After only walking one batter over his first four starts this season and just nine over his first nine outings and 56 innings pitched, Pilkington has walked 11 guys over his last four starts (21.1 innings pitched).
“You start walking guys, then you have guys on base,” Henderson said. “That equates to runs. The issue is a pretty simple one. The solution isn't quite as simple as knowing what's going on. We worked on it (Tuesday) in the bullpen. (Pilkington) was really good. We need him to relax and go out there and perform at the level that he can and the level that he has performed at before.”
Pilkington's hard times of late have shown in his record. Pilkington hasn't been credited with a win since he defeated Ole Miss back on April 7 – a
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