STARKVILLE — With his eyes on a Southeastern Conference series against South Carolina, Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen hinted Sunday afternoon at a shakeup of the Bulldogs’ weekend pitching rotation.
“We really have a set schedule,” said Cohen of his pitching staff. “With us playing Thursday, we may decide to throw Lucas Laster in that game to keep everybody else on their same schedule.”
On Monday, he took a big step in that direction, as MSU (19-11) announced sophomore Daniel Brown would replace Laster, MSU’s midweek starter for much of the season, for today’s game at 6:30 tonight at South Alabama (18-10).
Brown (1-0, 3.77 ERA) will draw his first career start. The decision allows Laster, arguably MSU’s most reliable starter, to be available to start Thursday night against South Carolina. Laster, a senior left-hander, is 3-1 in six appearances, all starts. His 2.65 ERA leads MSU’s starting pitchers.
The probable start by Laster on Thursday will allow Cohen and pitching coach Butch Thompson to keep MSU’s regular weekend rotation of Friday night starter Preston Brown and Saturday stalwart Austin Sexton on schedule. Cohen didn’t elaborate on the possible role of Sunday starter Vance Tatum for the South Carolina series.
Talking turkey
MSU senior Trevor Fitts had an explanation following his best performance of the season.
After pitching 4 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his second win and help MSU earn a 3-1 series-ending victory against Auburn, Fitts held that explanation — and eight-inch turkey’s foot — in his hand while talking to members of the media.
“This is a good luck thing, I guess,” Fitts said. “Last season, Wes (Rea) brought this out for the Super Bulldog weekend series when we came back and got a big win. Today, he comes up and says he found it in his truck, so I took it around and touched every bat with it. I’d say it worked.”
The good luck charm seemed to help the MSU offense, particularly Rea. Entering the day batting .095 in SEC play, Rea had two hits, including his first triple. MSU had nine hits Sunday after getting nine in the first two games of the series.
Asked how Rea came by the turkey’s foot, Fitts deadpanned, “He killed it, I guess.”
Walks aplenty
While MSU’s offense has struggled to score runs, it hasn’t been due to an inability to get on base.
The Bulldogs, led by 26 free passes from Rea, are second nationally with 167 walks. They are 18th in on-base percentage.
Rebels will play Memphis
The Ole Miss baseball team (14-14) will take on Memphis (17-6) at 6:30 tonight at AutoZone Park, home of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate Memphis Redbirds, in Memphis Tennessee.
The game is the first in a home-and-home series against the Tigers. The teams will meet April 22 at Swayze Field.
Ole Miss is scheduled to start sophomore left-hander Evan Anderson (1-3, 6.43). Memphis is scheduled to counter with redshirt senior left-hander Alex Gunn (2-0, 1.00).
Memphis took two of three games from Houston last week to open American Athletic Conference play. It also split two mid-week games with Arkansas last week.
Southern Mississippi’s McMahon named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week
Southern Miss senior right-hander James McMahon earned Conference USA Pitcher of the Week honors Monday in an announcement made by the league office.
The Hattiesburg native threw 11 shutout innings against a pair of nationally ranked opponents last week.
In his two starts during the week, McMahon (5-0, 0.99) registered a 5-1 win against No. 14 Rice, but he didn’t get a decision in a short midweek start against Mississippi State due to being on a pitch count. He didn’t allow a run in his 11 innings. He walked one and struck out five. and fanned five.
Alabama will play Alabama-Birmingham
The Alabama baseball team will take part in its fifth consecutive road game at6:30 tonight when it plays Alabama-Birmingham at Regions Field, home to the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Freshman right-hander Jake Walters (2-1, 1.23) is scheduled to start tonight for the Crimson Tide, while redshirt sophomore Dylan Munger is scheduled to start for the Blazers.
Alabama won one game of a three-game series against No. 4 Florida last weekend in Gainesville, Florida. Prior to that series, Alabama lost to South Alabama 3-0 on Tuesday.
UAB is coming off a week that saw it claim five victories, including a doubleheader sweep of Ole Miss on Tuesday and a three-game series sweep of Western Kentucky last weekend. UAB is on a six-game winning streak coming into today’s game.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.