STARKVILLE — As Jake Mangum stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday, Dudy Noble Field came to life.
Mangum took a sip of Gatorade and started his slow stride to the plate. The Mississippi State baseball freshman was the last hope for the Bulldogs. With Ryan Gridley standing on second and John Holland on first with two outs, Mangum had a chance to tie the game, if not win it with an extra base hit.
But Arizona reliever Cameron Ming struck out the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year on three pitches. The last pitch was a breaking ball that dropped off the table. Mangum swung over the top of it.
The bottom of the ninth was the story of the game for the Bulldogs as they stranded 10 base runners and lost 1-0 to the Wildcats in the first game of the Starkville Super Regional.
“When we took good swings, we didn’t get hits,” MSU coach John Cohen said.
The ninth didn’t start in a promising way. Brent Rooker and Reid Humphreys both struck out. But Gridley reached on an infield single to shortstop Louis Boyd and Holland singled through the six-hole into left field. Before Mangum came to bat, Arizona coach Jay Johnson went to the left-handed Ming to make switch hitter Mangum move to the right-handed side.
“Cameron’s makeup is really strong,” Johnson said. “If you’re going to be a Friday starter or if you’re going to be a closer, you’re makeup’s got to be pretty special.”
Ming picked up his second save.
It was the first time MSU was shut out since losing 4-0 to Florida Atlantic Feb. 20 during the opening weekend. Offense has come easy for the Bulldogs, but they couldn’t figure out Wildcat starter Bobby Dalbec (10-4).
The junior right-hander allowed five hits in 8 2/3 innings. He struck out nine and walked two. He threw 129 pitches.
“He really did a good job of throwing strike one with multiple pitches,” MSU junior third baseman Gavin Collins said, who had one hit. “It was either a fastball or a breaking ball and he didn’t leave a lot of balls over the middle. His misses were either off the plate or they were up, they weren’t anything we could get a good barrel on.”
Dalbec, who was drafted as a third baseman by the Boston Red Sox Friday in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, didn’t find himself in trouble often. He stranded Nathaniel Lowe at second and Collins at second in the third as Jacob Robson grounded out.
He retired 11 in a row from the fourth to seventh innings. Cohen felt like Dalbec got stronger as the game went on. Dalbec’s curve ball was the equalizer.
“In the nature of breaking balls, they are very hard to see,” Cohen said. “He has two different breaking balls. One has very little spin and one has a ton of spin on it.”
Before the bottom of the eighth, the power went off and the game entered a 37-minute delay. Dalbec hit leadoff man Jack Kruger after the delay, but got two ground ball fielder’s choices for the first two outs. With Collins standing on first base, he struck out Jacob Robson looking to end the threat.
Johnson said there was no decision to be made about bringing back Dalbec after the delay.
“I was staying loose and staying hot,” Dalbec said. “I was doing some things in the tunnel, behind the dugout. I warmed up in the bullpen again and went out there.”
Dalbec got 10 fly ball outs in the first seven innings and eight of his nine strike outs came from the fourth inning on.
The Wildcats scored the only run on an RBI double by J.J. Matijevic in the sixth off Bulldog starter Dakota Hudson (9-5). Hudson, who was drafted with the final pick of the first round by the St. Louis Cardinals, allowed seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He issued one walk and struck out six. Junior left-hander Daniel Brown threw 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief. He struck out three.
The Bulldogs were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
“We didn’t get that hit or that walk. We needed something to get us going,” Cohen said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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