STARKVILLE — For 15 games, the Mississippi State University baseball team hasn’t looked like an inexperienced team at the plate or in the field.
MSU coach John Cohen and his 27 active players agreed Saturday was a good time for those things to pop up before Southeastern Conference play begins next week.
MSU had what Cohen called a “teaching moment” Saturday in a 6-1 loss to Mercer University at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs had only seven at-bats with runners in scoring position. The loss snapped a season-best seven-game win streak.
“When you look at the numbers of freshman and sophomores that are on this baseball field for us and the number of Division I games they’ve played in, I think we’re in a learning phase,” Cohen said.
The learning stage began in the fourth inning when MSU (13-3) had two runners on and trailed 3-0 with 290-pound first baseman Wes Rea coming to the plate. With Rea ahead in the count 2-0, Mercer pitching coach Brent Shade walked to the mound to discuss a new approach with starting pitcher Brandon Barker.
“We really needed to move the runners there, and you’re in a tough spot with Wes because he can change the game with one swing of the bat,” Cohen said.
Cohen talked to his players about the options during the break and the Bulldogs settled on a hit-and-run provided Barker threw a strike. Barker’s first pitch following the meeting was a fastball away and out of the zone that Rea lifted to shallow fly right field for an out.
“If I walk him there it’s a rally for them, no question about it, so we decided I had to get him to swing at something out of the zone,” Barker said.
MSU’s No. 3-6 hitters went 2-for-16 Saturday, while Demarcus Henderson, Brayden Jones, and Brandon Woodruff, who were playing for three starters out with injuries, combined for one hit.
“I knew they had power, but I was confident if I threw it where I wanted I could get outs,” Barker said. “What works against them is the bottom of the order is where you can go attack.”
Barker (2-0), a sophomore right-hander, worked his two- and four-seam fastball to both sides of the plate, forced the Bulldogs to hit into three double plays, and surrendered only six hits in eight innings. MSU stranded six runners and didn’t score until the sixth, when it trailed 3-0. Barker allowed only one earned run and walked one and struck out one in a 93-pitch effort.
“We’re going to need that every weekend out of Brandon to be successful in league play,” Mercer coach Craig Gibson said.
Nick Backlund, a sophomore junior college transfer from San Jose, Calif., went 4-for-4, including a solo home run in the third off starting pitcher Nick Routt. Backlund, who wasn’t highly recruited out of high school or Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., is hitting .484 in 62 at-bats with seven home runs and 28 RBIs. He is slugging .931 in 16 games.
“I’d never seen (Nick) play before he arrived on campus,” Gibson said. “Our assistant coach (Justin Holmes) knew some people on the West Coast, and he’s really been better than we expected.”
Routt (1-1) appeared to struggle in his fourth start, but the senior left-hander said his location wasn’t off and credited Mercer (12-4) for having solid at-bats. The loss was his first loss since the 2011 Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Ala.
“I was trying to mix my fastball in like I did against the (University of Connecticut), which we had success with, but they were able to hit the ball out in front,” Routt said.
Sophomore Adam Frazier extended his hit streak to seven games with a pair of singles, while catcher Mitch Slauter did the same.
“We just couldn’t get a timely hit,” Frazier said. “We simply didn’t come out and play the way we should and then this happens. It’s frustrating when you find barrel and it’s not a hit.”
Mercer, which was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Sun Conference, came to Starkville with just one victory against a school with a record above .500 (a 5-2 win at High Point University). The schedule
was designed to get the Bears comfortably into the season after they lost several starters from a 2011 team that won 39 games. However, it has an opportunity today to win a series win that will help its Ratings Percentage Index before league plays begins.
“We figured we had a good club and we’d be able to pitch and defend,” Gibson said. “This is a great environment for us to get prepared.”
The teams will conclude the series at 1 p.m. today.
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