Bulldogs rally to beat Trojans
Mangum helps Bulldogs get critical week off to good start
It's a big week for Mississippi State.
Jake Mangum was determined not to let it get off to a bad start.
The Bulldogs will play for a Southeastern Conference regular season championship in a series against LSU starting Thursday, but prior to that, MSU roared back from a five-run deficit to defeat Troy 10-8 on Tuesday at Dudy Noble Field. Mangum delivered both the game-tying and go-ahead hits. The victory was MSU's 22nd come-from-behind win this season.
“We needed this,” Mangum said. “After losing two to Georgia back to back, this was the perfect turnaround. It was a tough way to win, but it gets us ready for Thursday. Thursday is going to be a battle.”
Mangum ended Tuesday night with three hits and three RBI. His productive evening came from an unusual spot.
Entering Tuesday, Mangum had started 50 games for MSU this season. In all 50 of those contests, he served as the leadoff hitter. Mississippi State head coach Andy Cannizaro bucked that trend on Tuesday, switching traditional three-hole hitter Ryan Gridley to the leadoff spot and moving Mangum to third in the batting order.
“He has the best hand-eye coordination of anyone in America,” Cannizaro said of Mangum. “He gets hits against right-handers, left-handers, sidearmers. It doesn't matter. When (opponents) pitch around Brent Rooker, they're going to have to face (Mangum). He's healthy and I love the way (Mangum hitting third) looks.”
Cannizaro said he plans to utilize his new lineup again this weekend against LSU. Why not after the success it led to on Tuesday?
For three and half innings though, things weren't looking so great for the Bulldogs. Troy (30-22)
sprinted out to an 8-3 lead over MSU (34-19) heading into the
home half of the fourth inning.
The Bulldogs struck first in the game when Cody Brown delivered an RBI single in the first, but the Trojans answered with five runs in the top of the third.
MSU got two of them back in the bottom of the frame courtesy of a run-scoring hit from Mangum and an RBI groundout from Brown, but Troy went right back on the offensive as the Trojans plated three more runs in the fourth.
From there, State started to chip away. Gridley and Rooker both came through with sacrifice flies in the bottom of the fourth to cut MSU's deficit to 8-5. The Bulldogs then tied the game in the sixth as Rooker drove in two runs on a double and Mangum drove home Rooker.
Finally in the eighth, Mangum and Brown delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles to give MSU its winning margin.
“To play like we did the first two and a half hours, then rush them at the end to win the ballgame, that's probably not the way you draw it up, but the thing I'll say about our guys is they have a tremendous amount of fight,” Cannizaro said. “They don't stop. They just keep coming.”
The relief work of Trey Jolly gave MSU the chance to fight back. The junior right-hander earned the win as he pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings out of the bullpen.
“He came in and threw strikes,” Cannizaro said of Jolly. “He worked ahead in the count. His fastball was down in the zone. He did a great job. It was great to see him pitch like that. I thought that was the best he's thrown since he pitched against Kentucky about a month ago.”
Riley Self worked a perfect ninth inning to earn the save. It also cemented a momentum-building win for State as all eyes now shift to the critical three games on the horizon. Mangum is already chomping at the bit.
“LSU is a great team, but we think we're a good team,” Mangum said. “It's going to be fun. That's all I can say about it. It's going to be a lot of fun.”