STARKVILLE — “I’ve been doing this for 24 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that. I’ve never seen that happen in any baseball game.”
Those words from Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen summed up what led to MSU’s 5-3 loss to LSU in 14 innings Thursday night at Dudy Noble Field.
With MSU trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, left fielder Reid Humphreys stepped to the plate with the tying run on second base, the winning run on first. On a 2-1 pitch from starting pitcher Jared Poche, Humphreys launched a double off the center-field wall. Luke Reynolds, the lead runner, scored easily. Matt Spruill, the pinch runner at first for Wes Rea, was poised to do the same. Running a few feet behind Reynolds, Spruill rounded third base as LSU’s fielders attempted to relay the ball home.
That’s when the worst-case scenario happened.
Spruill tripped over the third-base bag and crashed to the ground, separating his right shoulder in the process. The Tigers tagged Spruill to turn a possible walk-off loss into a matter of what might have been for the Bulldogs.
Five innings later, the Tigers escaped with a victory. The reality of the latest loss was hard for Cohen to swallow.
“There are some forces out there that don’t want us to win a baseball game,” Cohen said. “The winning run is rounding third and he’s going to score, and it’s not going to be close. And he trips. When those things happen to you, you just ask yourself ‘What’s it going to take?’ ”
In addition to the ninth-inning base-running slip, MSU (23-23, 7-15 Southeastern Conference) left other opportunities on the table. In a game that lasted four and a half hours, MSU put the potential winning run in scoring position four times in the final five innings. That runner reached third base three times. LSU (39-7, 15-6) wriggled out of trouble each time.
In addition to Spruill’s slip in the ninth, a ground ball by Brent Rooker looked destined for left field that would have given Humphreys a chance to score. But shortstop Alex Bregman made a diving stop to keep the ball on the infield. John Holland then was retired on a fly out to end the inning.
“Bregman made three or four plays tonight where you just tip your hat to him,” said MSU relief pitcher Trevor Fitts, who gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings. “There were so many times tonight where I thought we were going to win, but they made a play. We are not going to get down about it, we competed our tails off tonight.”
In the 11th, center fielder Jacob Robson was on second base after a walk and a stolen base. Following a walk to Rooker and an out by Holland, freshman Ryan Gridley singled to left to give Robson a chance to score. But left fielder Jake Fraley’s throw nailed Robson at the plate.
“We asked Gridley to step up there and bang the ball with a runner on second base, and he does,” Cohen said. “Is it going to win the game? No because it’s hit too hard. When those things are happening, when you hit a ball too hard to an outfielder and it’s right there and he throws the guy out because the ball is hit so hard, you’ve got to realize things aren’t going your way.”
The loss was MSU’s ninth in its last 11 conference games. Since a 13-0 start to the season, MSU has lost 23 of its last 33 games.
LSU finally pounced in the 14th. After Fitts walked Fraley and Bregman, cleanup hitter Conner Hale ripped a two-run double into the right-center field gap to make it 5-3.
“I left a pitch right there on a tee for him,” Fitts said, “and he did what he was supposed to do with it. I guess I just ran out of pitches.”
The mistake spoiled a strong showing from MSU’s bullpen. After starter Lucas Laster was chased in the fifth, sophomore Zac Houston pitched five innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits and striking out five. Fitts (2-4) scattered six hits, walked three and struck out two before giving way to Dakota Hudson, who recorded the final two outs.
“Our bullpen especially did a nice job against a really good offensive club,” Cohen said. “We’ve got to find a way to win those games.”
Hot start
Embarrassed after an 11-1 loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday night in the annual Governor’s Cup game, MSU started off strong against LSU. The Bulldogs scored twice in the first against Poche, as Rea clocked an RBI single and Humphreys pushed across a run on a groundout.
Laster allowed two runs in the fourth and another in the top of the fifth to allow LSU to build a 3-2 lead, an advantage that lasted until Humphreys stepped to the plate in the ninth.
Reynolds, who was on second base after his third hit, had a unique view of the walk-off that wasn’t.
“I knew he crushed it,” Reynolds said. “I stopped and made sure it wasn’t going to get caught, then when it hit the wall, I took off. I knew (Spruill) was right behind me. When I slid home, the fans were going crazy, so I thought he had scored and the game was over. I turned around, and I saw the rundown. It was pretty crazy.”
Afterward, Cohen struggled to make sense of the play.
“If we don’t have a guy trip at third base, we win,” Cohen said. “Can’t say anything more than that. Not only does he trip, but he trips and falls on his shoulder, separates it. That’s a trifecta. It’s hard to believe that it happened like that because our kids played their hearts out. When you see stuff like that happen, it really causes you to think, ‘What do we have to do to catch a break?’ I don’t know the answer.”
MSU had 11 hits against five pitchers. Reynolds went 3-for-5 to give him 10 hits in his last 13 at-bats. Rea and Gridley singled twice.
LSU reliever Jake Godfrey (7-0) recorded two outs in the bottom of the 13th to get the win. Closer Jesse Stallings worked a worry-free 14th to post his 12th save.
Fraley led LSU with three singles.
The win was the 400th career LSU victory for coach Paul Mainieri, who is 400-156-3 in nine seasons at the school. Mainieri is the second-winningest coach at LSU, trailing only Skip Bertman, who had 870 wins in 18 seasons (1984-2001). Bertman also earned his 400th career LSU win in his ninth season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be at 7 tonight (ESPNU).
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 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.