HOOVER, Alabama — The Mississippi State baseball team’s Southeastern Conference schedule has kept starting pitcher Konnor Pilkington from having a normal routine.
This time, a schedule tweak might help him.
Pilkington, MSU’s ace, was scheduled to start No. 5 seed MSU’s SEC tournament opener against No. 12 seed Georgia on Tuesday night. But rain delays and the length of the first three games Tuesday forced MSU’s game to be usher back to 9:30 a.m. today.
The winner of today’s game will play No. 4 seed Arkansas at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
“Us getting rained out tonight benefits our team a lot in terms of having Konnor on an extra day’s rest,” MSU coach Andy Cannizaro said. “He was already pitching on short rest, but now it’s kind of back to midseason one short day type of outing. I think with his size and strength, he usually carries his velocity pretty well.”
Pilkington has experience on unusual rest intervals thanks to the SEC schedule. MSU followed a Friday through Sunday series to a Thursday through Saturday series four times, meaning Pilkington had to pitch on one fewer day of rest four times. He’ll make it five this morning.
Part of the reason Cannizaro decided to start Pilkington against Georgia was he was scheduled to throw a bullpen session Tuesday, which means he essentially could take his usual routine and apply it to a game. Given the late nature of the rescheduling, Cannizaro said Pilkington did a light workout Tuesday to stay fresh for a potential start late Tuesday night.
The postponement also could shift MSU into the early-morning slot. Only twice in 56 games has MSU started a game before noon. Those games were against Columbia in March.
“The biggest thing you have to do is make sure your guys get to bed, make sure they get their rest,” Cannizaro said. “We have 7 o’clock breakfast (Wednesday) morning and then we’ll head to the park.
“We’re going to be fine. There shouldn’t be any lack of energy or lack of emotion. It’s the SEC tournament and everybody has to win, so we’re ready to play whenever they say go. ”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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