STARKVILLE — It wasn”t the way they wanted to close the regular season, but the Mississippi State Bulldogs are going to the Southeastern Conference tournament.
MSU”s 6-3 loss to Louisiana State on Saturday afternoon — which at one point was a one-run game in the eighth — ultimately cost the No. 6 seeded Bulldogs a chance at the No. 2 seed.
MSU, which clinched a tournament berth for the first time since 2007, will face No. 3 seed University of Florida immediately following Game 1 between Alabama and Arkansas at 9:30 a.m.
“That”s a great accomplishment for our team, of course, but we would have loved to get that win and get ahead in the SEC West and done a better job with that,” MSU pitcher Caleb Reed said. “But we couldn”t be more happy with what we”ve accomplished.”
MSU coach John Cohen was disappointed his players” effort didn”t result in the first league crown of any sort since 1989.
To have a shot at the No. 2 seed, the Bulldogs needed Ole Miss to sweep its doubleheader with Arkansas.
“They wanted to go out and claim something for themselves and not have to rely or worry about other people,” Cohen said.
The Bulldogs (34-21, 14-16) finish the regular season in a three-way tie for second-place in the Western Division, while Arkansas claimed the division title with a doubleheader sweep of Ole Miss.
Cohen and his players said they weren”t aware of Auburn”s victory over Tennessee – it ended midway through their home finale at Dudy Noble Field. That outcome guaranteed the Bulldogs a tournament berth, regardless of their result against LSU.
“That”s a scenario I don”t think anybody was talking about last night,” Cohen said. “I guess I”m gonna have to see that on the blackboard or something.”
The Bulldogs needed Ole Miss to sweep its doubleheader against Arkansas to earn the No. 2 seed.
MSU trailed from the third inning on, running into its first jam when Austin Nola hit a two-RBI single and Mike Lowery followed with a one-run hit.
Though Reed, who pitched seven relief innings, gave up each hit, two of those runs were charged to starter Chris Stratton.
Stratton”s up-and-down form led to a poor outing when the Bulldogs could least afford it, even though they”d later find out they were already guaranteed a trip to Hoover.
Stratton gave up four hits in just two innings, tossing 43 pitches against 11 batters. He started the third inning by beaning the leadoff batter and walking the second, prompting MSU pitching coach Butch Thompson to lift the sophomore in favor of reliever Caleb Reed.
“You just start counting him on barrel contact,” Cohen said. “He hit the kid in the head, although I didn”t think that was a horrendous pitch after seeing it on the scoreboard. When you hit the kid in the head, you”ve lost command. But again, I thought his fastball was good. I thought his breaking ball was good at times.
“The whole game was in that third inning, and we”re sitting there going ”we”ve got to have our best guy out there when the game matters the most,”” Cohen added. “The game matters the most at different times, and in this game it was the third inning.”
Reed”s breakout season continued with a typical, talismanic-like performance against LSU. The junior gave up three earned runs on nine hits and struck out six on 113 pitches. It was his longest relief outing of his career by 1 1/3 innings, though he lamented his one critical mistake of the game: a two-run home run to Raph Rhymes in the eighth inning that gave the Tigers a 6-3 lead.
“I didn”t make very bad pitches today, honestly, but that was one I left above the plate and he hit it well,” Reed said.
The Bulldogs had a chance to take a lead in the seventh with runners on the corners and two outs, but Jarrod Parks hit a chopper to third and was thrown out at first, though it appeared Mason Katz came off the base. Parks jumped up and slammed his helmet to the ground and was immediately ejected.
It was the last chance MSU had at making a dent in LSU”s lead, as its lineup was retired in order in three of the final four innings.
“Our kids played really hard, we just didn”t take quality swings for the most part,” Cohen said. “I think it”s because our kids were trying too hard. We had so many bang-bang plays at first base, kids just running their heart out.”
The Bulldogs were led at the plate by Cody Freeman, who went 2-for-4, and Vickerson, who went 1-for-4 with two RBIs. Freeman was the only Bulldog to record more than one hit.
LSU, on the other hand, had four players record multi-hit games. Nola, Lowery and Rhymes each had three hits.
The Tigers will miss the SEC tournament for the first time since 1985.
“I really don”t know what I”m going to do this week,” LSU coach Paul Mainieri said.
The Tigers, despite not making the league tourney, finish the regular season with a 36-20 record and are on the bubble for an at-large berth. Like the Bulldogs, LSU has an RPI in the top 30 and have a favorable strength of schedule. The Tigers have had nine losses by one or two runs.
The Bulldogs hope their high RPI number and a win or two in Hoover will be enough to make it to a NCAA regional.
“I”d like to (think so),” Cohen said. “But I”ll be honest with you; from where we started two years ago into Year 3 here, I just feel like we have to earn everything.”
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