PEARL — Mississippi State University’s Luis Pollorena loves pitching in a big ballpark on a big stage.
The Bulldogs’ 5-foot-6 left-hander has had three successful outings at Trustmark Park, the home of the Double-A Mississippi Braves.
“Coming into it last year, I remembered all you have to do is throw strikes,” Pollorena said.
The dimensions at Trustmark Park include a center-field wall 402 feet away and the two 380-foot gaps in the outfield. Those numbers are similar to Dudy Noble Field, MSU’s home ballpark in Starkville, where Pollorena has given up three earned runs this season.
Pollorena was just as stingy Tuesday night, delivering a relief effort that was critical to helping keep MSU close in a 6-3 loss to the No. 22 University of Mississippi.
After throwing 5 2/3 innings in his first appearance at Trustmark Park in a victory last year against the University of Southern Mississippi, Pollorena took the baseball with MSU trailing 5-1 and allowed just one run on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. His 57-pitch effort lowered his ERA to 2.08.
“He’s pitched well in this venue before, so we had a confidence he would be fine,” Cohen said. “It’s such a short turnaround for us coming off a league weekend series that we had to stretch somebody out, and he did that for us.”
In 11 innings in two appearances at Pearl, Pollorena has a 0.81 ERA with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Those are more than acceptable numbers for a pitcher whose fastball doesn’t eclipse 90 mph.
“The velocity isn’t going to be there and I know that, so my job is to throw strikes to let my defense work,” Pollorena said. “If we play good enough defense we can compete with anybody in the country.”
Norris questionable to return to third base
Cohen admitted Daryl Norris’ time at third base may have to be
re-evaluated.
Norris, who is still recovering from a serious knee cap injury, couldn’t make a play on a swinging bunt down the third-base line by center fielder Auston Bousfield. He fielded the ball with his non-glove hand, but he didn’t have a play when he quickly got into a throwing position.
Bousfield’s infield hit gave the Rebels (25-12) their final lead. The infield hit was the second play the Fairfield, Ala., native had an opportunity to make in a week but couldn’t due in part to his recent injury.
“We got to make two plays defensively in that ballgame to win it. A slow roller to Daryl and he can’t move and the other is the one (MSU catcher Mitch Slauter) threw the ball into left field,” Cohen said. “Those two defensive plays destroyed what we were trying to do.”
Norris was lifted from the game in a double switch that put freshman Matthew Britton at second base and junior walk-on Sam Frost at third base. Norris dislocated his knee cap after fouling a ball off his knee March 7 against Penn State University. While he has been back in the lineup for the past two weeks, the sophomore returned to the infield last weekend at the University of South Carolina.
Cohen said after the game Norris’ status will be reviewed and that he could return to the designated hitter position. Junior Trey Porter, a transfer from Gulf Coast Community College, went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in that spot Tuesday.
“Maybe Porter plays that position, although he had a difficult night offensively, too,” Cohen said. “You feel like he and Porter have to be in the lineup, so one of them has to be in the field. Is Daryl better there going half speed than a guy who had never played third base in his entire life until two weeks ago? That’s the difficult one.”
MSU will play host to the University of Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPNU) in game one of a three-game Southeastern Conference series.
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