Same issues, another loss for Bulldogs
As Mississippi State's postseason chances continue to slip down the drain in 2022, the Diamond Dawgs have had the same issues come back to haunt them over and over.
Often times, good hitting can't be followed up by good pitching and vice versa for MSU. The Bulldogs got the pitching for most of the first eight innings but threestraight innings getting the first two batters on base totaled just one run.
The game paid State back in the ninth as KC Hunt gave up six runs and the Bulldogs lost yet another series with a 9-3 defeat to Florida.
It dropped MSU to last place in the Southeastern Conference West and continued what has been a frustrating and disappointing 2022 for coach Chris Lemonis and his team a year after winning the national championship.
“I've never really lost a whole lot in my baseball career so it's not something you like,” Bulldog third baseman Kamren James said. “We've just got to keep working because baseball usually comes around. It's how crazy this league is. This league is hard and crazy.”
While the ninth inning was disastrous for MSU, it was the fifth, sixth and seventh that the Bulldogs will be looking back on as the culprit.
State put the first two runners on base in all three innings and found ways not to score.
After falling behind 3-2 in the fifth, RJ Yeager led things off with a double and Kamren James walked, but a double play from Luke Hancock and line out from Logan Tanner ended the threat. Hunter Hines singled and Brad Cumbest was hit by pitch to start the sixth only to watch a strikeout, fielder's choice and groundout from the bottom of the order leave them empty.
In the seventh, State finally got a run as Yeager doubled and James singled though a double play from Hancock again put the team down two outs. A run scored, but State left the bases loaded.
A total of nine players out of the 16 that batted over those three innings got on base and MSU scored one run. Florida made the Bulldogs pay for that.
“I see a lot of opinions on (lack of situational hitting), but it's kind of tough when you hit two balls that are easily 100 miles per hour off the bat,” James said. “People can say what they want to say, but I don't agree with it. You hit the ball hard and baseball is hard enough. There's really nothing we can do about it.”
In a tie game in the ninth inning and KC Hunt on the mound, the Gators went off. Hunt walked two batters and