STARKVILLE — Freshman pitcher Riley Self couldn’t stop looking to his right as he answered questions.
Even though Self did his part by pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings, Marist parlayed five runs in the first three innings into a celebration in right field following a 9-8 victory at Dudy Noble Field.
“It leaves a sick taste in my mouth,” said Self, who allowed two hits and no walks.
Marist (4-3) chased starting pitcher Ryan Cyr out after six outs to drop MSU to 6-3. Coach Andy Cannizaro’s won’t play during the week prior to a three-game weekend series at Oregon.
“I just don’t think we were ready to play today when the umpire said play ball,” Cannizaro said. “It was one of those games where you kind of ease into it then you glance up at the scoreboard and have one of those, ‘Oh wow,’ moments and play much better in the second half of the ballgame. (We) ended up outscoring them 7-1 in the last four innings. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.”
After using four pitchers — Jacob Billingsley, Andrew Mahoney, Trey Jolly, and Trysten Barlow — in relief of Cyr to get MSU to two outs in the top of the sixth, Cannizaro called on Self because “I felt really confident in his ability to come in and stop the bleeding.”
After allowing an RBI single to the first batter he faced (the run was charged to Jolly), Self retired the next eight batters — three on strikeouts.
“You’re certainly looking to get more out of your starting pitching than what we got today,” Cannizaro said. “You’re asking your bullpen to pick up six or seven innings on a Sunday in your fourth game of action.”
While Self and company tried to hold Marist down, MSU slowly closed the gap. Third baseman Luke Alexander has a two-RBI double, and shortstop Ryan Gridley had a two-RBI single to get MSU within two runs before its best chance in the seventh. Right fielder Tanner Poole opened the frame with a walk, first baseman Cole Gordon singled, and Josh Lovelady bunted into a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases with no outs.
“(After that) we got a very non-competitive strikeout, we got a ground ball to the middle of the infield that scores a run, and a very non-competitive strikeout,” Cannizaro said. “It wasn’t a day where we played very well, but certainly we continued to battle back, and I think that’s a sign for our team early in the season we’re not going to give up.”
The run-producing groundout was courtesy of center fielder Jake Mangum, who used that at-bat as one example of where MSU needs to improve.
“We’ve come back a couple of times this year, but we have to do a better job offensively of having quality at-bats,” he said. “Seventh inning, bases loaded with one out, I have to get a hit there, or just drive something. Throughout the game, there’s a lot of at-bats we could have done better. We easily could’ve rolled over and got killed there, but we battled back. We should have won that ballgame, even giving up nine runs.”
MSU also committed two errors that helped Marist build the lead. In the third, a single bounced off of Mangum’s leg that advanced runners in a three-run inning. An error charged to second baseman Cody Brown in the sixth also led to a run.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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