STARKVILLE — John Cohen is going away from his natural tendencies as a player and as a coach this week.
As a two-year letterman at Mississippi State University and in his four years as coach, Cohen always has believed in doing more to produce results. His thinking is that repetition will lead to confidence and then to production.
Something is getting lost in the translation.
Instead, MSU is on pace to have one of its worst offensive years since the introduction of metal bats. Cohen has had a difficult time finding ways to help the Bulldogs overcome youth, injuries, and a lack of confidence in what they are doing at the plate.
MSU (31-21, 13-14 Southeastern Conference) will try to regroup from a disappointing loss to the University of Central Arkansas at 6:30 tonight when it plays host to the No. 8 University of Kentucky in game one of a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field. Game two will be at 7 p.m. Friday. The series finale will be at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“It’s the body of work that takes over for things and for me. The more you work on something, the more confident you are,” Cohen said. “You have a group of kids that have never done it before and never played before.”
A 2-0 loss to UCA on Tuesday at Dudy Noble Field magnified that inexperience. MSU lost to a right-handed pitcher with an ERA of nearly six who was making his first start of the season. The Bulldogs didn’t get a runner to second base and were shut out by a non-SEC team for the first time since a 6-0 loss to Samford University in 2004.
“We discussed last night not doing anything offensively (in practice Wednesday) and maybe they’re just not doing anything in order to clear their head,” Cohen said. “The kids are just going to have to be warriors this weekend. They are going to have to forget everything that’s happened offensively and just do what we have done trying to create offense when it available.”
That is a distinct contradiction of the attitude Cohen brought to the field when he played at MSU and the mind-set he has conveyed as coach.
“What I’ve always believed is the more work you do in something will give you the confidence in doing it later on,” Cohen said. “We want our kids to able to make them on their own decisions on those things. We want our older guys running their own program and part of coaching is being able to get your players to the point that they’re able to coach themselves.”
MSU entered the week tied for last in the SEC in batting average (.249), tied for last in home runs (19), last in slugging percentage (.337), and 10th in runs scored (4.55 per game).
Kentucky also is coming off a disappointing non-conference result. A 7-3 loss to Murray State on Tuesday dropped Kentucky to 23-3 in non-league action this season. Murray State used seven pitchers, including all three of its weekend starters, and a different pitcher in the first six innings.
Cohen knows what it takes to have a successful season at Kentucky. He led the Wildcats to a SEC title before taking the job at MSU.
“When I walked out of the door, we had signed five of the top 60 players according to Baseball America, and that was due in large part to our assistant coaches who are still there,” said Cohen, who praised current Kentucky coach Gary Henderson. “They have just done a great, great job of just getting players to believe in the process. The process is different at Kentucky than the rest of the league. When you’re at Kentucky you’re fighting the weather, you’re fighting a couple of facility issues that are different than the rest of the league.”
Kentucky, which is No. 2 in the latest national rankings, is vying for its second SEC crown, and first since the Cohen-led Wildcats claimed the 2006 title. Kentucky has a half-game lead against two-time defending national champion University of South Carolina in the SEC East and overall league standings.
MSU can all but guarantee its at-large spot in the NCAA tournament in two weeks with a series victory. Kentucky is in the top 10 of the Ratings Percentage Index. RPI is one of the factors the NCAA tournament committee uses to select the at-large teams for the NCAA tournament.
“We need to win two out of the three games, at least,” Cohen said. “We need to be able to do that. It is out in front of us and we can control our own destiny in a lot of ways, and we are excited about the opportunity.”
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