STARKVILLE — The injury list continues to grow for the Mississippi State University baseball team.
Three key contributors are fighting serious injuries as the Bulldogs enter the final month of the regular season.
Sophomore outfielder C.T. Bradford may be out for a longer period of than any of the team’s coaches had hoped after he was involved in a violent collision in right-center field Saturday in the ninth inning of a 6-2 loss to the University of Mississippi. Bradford came together with senior outfielder Brent Brownlee and re-injured his already ailing shoulder.
“There already was a tear in the labrum of his shoulder from the previous injury, so it may be a situation of how much pain can he tolerate,” MSU baseball coach John Cohen said Sunday. “He’s already been trying to play with a great deal of pain.”
Bradford told The Dispatch on Sunday he was inactive because he hadn’t received the MRI scan results on his shoulder. He said the decision to play would “be a family decision” to ensure what’s best for his future as a baseball player.
Bradford’s father, Mike, played third base for MSU from 1982-83, and was present for this weekend’s play. Mike Bradford lives in Florida.
Bradford suffered the injury trying to track down Blake Newalu’s high fly ball in right-center field. Bradford and Brownlee ran full speed to make the play but collided, leaving Bradford rolling in pain and clutching his right shoulder.
“That will happen in some cases because most fans think you call the fly ball the minute it goes up, but you don’t call it till you know you can get it,” Cohen said, “so when both guys are going full speed not sure they can get it, this can happen in a certain part of the field.”
Bradford took himself out of the game and results of his condition were unknown at the end of the game. Brownlee, who also is dealing with a serious knee injury, stayed in the game and was in the starting lineup Sunday.
“We’re hopeful (C.T.’s injury) isn’t as bad as it sounds, but for some reason this year everything has been ultimately worse than it sounded,” Cohen said.
MSU designated hitter Trey Porter was forced to take himself out of the game Sunday after he took a pitch off the right hand in the first inning. The transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College ran after getting hit, but freshman Phillip Casey replaced him when that spot in the order came up again in the second.
Porter sustained an undisclosed injury to one of the metacarpal bones in his hand, the long bones that connect the hand to the wrist, and will has an X-ray scheduled for this morning to determine the severity.
Porter told The Dispatch on Sunday his hand swelled up while he was standing on first base after getting hit. However, Porter, who is hitting .281 with a team-leading five home runs, said he felt the pain, which gives him reason to think there isn’t a large fracture.
The MSU coaches suggested the diagnosis may be more positive than when redshirt freshman infielder Demarcus Henderson broke a bone in his hand that likely ended his 2012 campaign.
“It doesn’t look horrible, but we’ll wait and see,” Cohen said of Porter’s injury.
In a last-minute lineup change, redshirt freshman Wes Rea was placed in the eighth spot after he initially was given his first day off this season. Rea has started 44 straight games at first base despite suffering from an apparent nerve injury in his right arm.
Rea, who at times struggles to grip the bat since suffering the injury, was seen Sunday constantly flexing his right arm and hand while in the batter’s box. The 290-pound first baseman had a sacrifice fly in the first, and leads MSU in extra-base hits this season (16).
The first lineup submitted to the press box 90 minutes before first pitch had Porter at first base, a spot he played and was named second-team National Junior College Association All-American last season, but the lineup was changed to add Rea minutes before the national anthem.
“Wes Rea is a guy where we had to do some magic in the training room just to get him out there,” Cohen said. “(MSU team doctor Rusty) Linton did a great job to get him out there. Wes Rea has to play for us because he’s such a great defender.”
MSU doesn’t have a mid-week game this week, so its players will get a chance to rest their injuries. It will begin a three-game series at the University of Alabama on Friday evening.
“We did enough (Sunday), so hopefully without a C.T. Bradford in the lineup and some of the guys banged up maybe we can get them rested up and at full speed,” Cohen said.
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