BATON ROUGE, La. — Alex Lange gave the Mississippi State baseball team an opportunity in the first inning Saturday night.
A walk to Brent Rooker, a single by Ryan Gridley, and a walk to Cody Brown loaded the bases in MSU’s initial at-bat in Game 1 of the NCAA tournament’s Baton Rouge Super Regional at Alex Box Stadium.
MSU coach Andy Cannizaro knew the Bulldogs needed to seize their chance against at Tigers’ ace. When Lange hit Jake Mangum to force in a run, it looked like MSU would take advantage of Lange’s slow start. But the junior right-hander struck out the next two hitters to escape further damage.
Cannizaro knew what would happen next.
“We had him on the ropes,” Cannizaro said. “We score a run. We have the bases loaded with one out. When you have a guy with that kind of ability, you have to get him early or you’re not going to get him. I know everybody in this room has seen that type of performance from Alex many times where if you let him off the hook early, he’s standing out there in the seventh or eighth inning, and that’s exactly what he did tonight.”
Lange re-discovered his command and was able to locate his fastball and keep the Bulldogs (40-26) off balance with his knuckle-curveball. He allowed three runs on three hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked six (two intentionally) and struck out 10. His performance allowed LSU (47-17) to stay within striking distance before it used a four-run eighth to rally for a 4-3 victory.
LSU and MSU will meet again at 8 tonight in Game 2. A win by LSU would send it to the College World Series. A win by MSU would force a Game 3 Monday night.
Shifting against Rooker
Rooker, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, led off the top of the sixth facing a different defensive alignment.
Rooker, a right-handed batter, faced a pull-oriented shift as he struck out. Second baseman Cole Freeman was playing left of the second base bag, with shortstop Kramer Robertson and third baseman Josh Smith to his left as they would be in a typical alignment.
“He’s so good. I was hoping to encourage him to try to hit a single to the opposite field as opposed to going for a home run,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. “Sometimes I’ll do that, hoping they’ll take what we give them, maybe even some bunts with left-handed hitters. I figure that’s better than guys hitting the ball out of the park.”
Mainieri added that spray charts and film study revealed Rooker, “clearly hits a lot of ground balls to the left side.”
No decision on starting pitcher
Cannizaro said he didn’t know who MSU would start on the mound today, but he acknowledged Denver McQuary and Jacob Billingsley are likely candidates.
Cannizaro added he wanted to ask Billingsley how he felt playing catch Saturday and how he feels this morning, as that could be a determining factor.
LSU not comfortable with lead
Mainieri rejected the idea of LSU feeling comfortable after winning Game 1.
“What is the driver’s seat? We don’t think that way,” he said. “All we think is there’s another game tomorrow, and we’re going to do our best to win that ballgame and hope we’ll be successful. The guys going to bed tonight know they’re going to wake up tomorrow with a chance to play for a championship, but it’s just a baseball game.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson @Brett_Hudson
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.