STARKVILLE — In preparation for what must be considered a critical weekend series against Vanderbilt University, Mississippi State University baseball coach John Cohen has made a tweak to his weekend pitching rotation.
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin wishes his problems could be easily fixed.
Cohen is putting his two best performances on the mound statistically during the 2012 season in the first two days as right-handed juniors Chris Stratton (6-0, 2.27) and Kendall Graveman (2-1, 3.05) will get the baseball first against the Commodores (12-17, 3-6 in Southeastern Conference).
In an attempt to downplay the move Thursday morning in his media teleconference, Cohen attempted to suggest the move to remove consistent Saturday starter Nick Routt (1-4, 4.72) was more of a promotion for Graveman to be moved up a day.
“It’s not a demotion for anybody, it’s a promotion for Kendall Graveman,” Cohen said. “We just feel like he’s one of our best two arms right now.
MSU (18-11, 3-6 in SEC play) will not officially name a Sunday starter but said if senior All-American reliever Caleb Reed isn’t used in
either of the first two games, then he’ll get his first start since April 23, 2010. If Reed is used out of the bullpen, something the MSU coaching would prefer because it obviously means they’re in a position to beat Vanderbilt, then opening night starter Ben Bracewell would likely get the nod on Sunday.
“What that does is potentially open the door on Sunday for the possibility of Caleb Reed to start,” Cohen said. “We made the decision as a staff that if Caleb can help us win a Friday or Saturday game we’ll go ahead and use him and figure out Sunday when we get there.”
Routt’s status for the weekend is unknown and could vary between being a matchup left-handed reliever or a long-relief option if one of the starters gets into early trouble.
“If Routt can help us win a game in a left on left situation or quite frankly with his change-up is better against some right-handed hitters than he is left-handed hitters,” Cohen said. “I don’t think anything is off the table with him.”
Corbin has been in the unenviable position of relying on newcomers and freshman on the mound with one of the most difficult nonconference schedules in the country. The Commodores lost all three weekend starters to either graduation or early entry into the Major League Baseball Draft this past summer.
“Their record doesn’t indicate that but they’ve played some very good non-conference opponents. They played very good Stanford, Oregon and San Diego teams,” Cohen said. “They are very solid and young. They lost 31 wins off of their pitching staff a year ago so I think they are a little bit like our club from the standpoint of as time goes on the younger guys are going to get better. They are younger on the mound than we are but we’re a little younger positionally than they are.”
One of the premier talents that Vanderbilt was relying on early is freshman right-hander Tyler Beede but the first round pick by the Toronto Blue Jays struggled early in his introduction to college baseball.
Beede, who turned down $2.5 million from the Toronto organization to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt, earned his first collegiate win last week against the University South Carolina allowing just two runs on 13 hits with 15 strikeouts in 11-plus innings over his last two starts. In his three Southeastern Conference starts Beede is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA while allowing three walks and striking out 21 in 16 innings.
“His birth to college baseball has been Stanford, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin told The Tennesseean. “Those are all his starts. We’ve never put, really, a freshman in that position before. Every time he goes out there, he gets better. He’s in for a lot of good starts from here on out.”
Vanderbilt is 11th in the league in runs allowed, home runs allowed, walks allowed and last in fielding coming into Starkville this weekend.
The consistent story of injuries inside the MSU clubhouse remains an issue this weekend for the Bulldogs. Outfielder/ reliever Taylor Stark has been out since March 18 with a hamstring injury but could be returning on the mound for MSU.
“I think Taylor could pitch this weekend maybe,” Cohen said. “The question is on a ground ball to the right side or a bunt situation, can he get to the bag? Those are things that are important but we’ve got to believe he can do it. He threw a bullpen two days ago and Butch (Thompson) said it was one of the best bullpens he’s ever thrown, the issue is just his mobility.”
Cohen also said that sophomore third baseman Daryl Norris (knee) began taking some ground balls and batting practice this week but isn’t ready to be placed on the active roster.
“Our kids are going to keep fighting and competing and we’ll have a great opportunity in the last seven weeks of the SEC season to still progress and win some baseball games.”
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