STARKVILLE — Those sounds you may have heard Friday evening were the dominoes across the Southeastern Conference all falling into place for the Mississippi State baseball team.
Those other sounds shortly before 9 p.m. were State fans’ hearts breaking after Texas A&M’s Jace LaViolette mashed his third home run of Friday night’s game at Dudy Noble Field, this one a three-run shot in the top of the ninth to give the Aggies a 6-4 lead.
Those other sounds around 9:15 were the sighs of relief coming from Columbia, Missouri and Athens, Georgia, thanking A&M for potentially saving their seasons.
For the Bulldogs, everything they needed to happen this weekend to sneak into Hoover for next week’s SEC Tournament came to fruition. Auburn beat Missouri twice on Friday. LSU won its first two games against Georgia. And MSU beat the Aggies in Thursday’s series opener.
The Bulldogs were three outs away from climbing into a three-way tie for the final spot in Hoover with one game to play in the regular season.
Then, LaViolette happened.
“It sucks,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. “I thought we did a good job pitching tonight, except against him.”
Why didn’t Lemonis walk LaViolette
It’s the question most people walking out of Dudy Noble Field Friday night were asking themselves. Why on earth did the Bulldogs pitch to Laviolette with the game on the line in the ninth?
LaViolette had already clobbered two homers earlier in the game, both against MSU starter Cade Smith, who gave up three earned (all on LaViolette’s first two homers) in five innings, striking out six batters.
When LaViolette stepped to the dish in the ninth with only one out, the Aggies had runners on the corners against MSU pitcher Aaron Nixon, who struggled with command, walking two batters in the eighth, then allowing two singles in the ninth.
“We talked about it,” Lemonis said after the game about walking LaViolette. “But with one out it is just a little tough. Aaron (Nixon) wasn’t pinpoint command tonight. That’s why they didn’t steal right there, because if they would have stole, we would have walked (LaViolette). We just left a breaking ball up and he punished it.
“It is hard to put the winning run at second base at that point, hoping you get him (LaViolette) out.”
The Bulldogs managed to get the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after walks of Hunter Hines and Dakota Jordan with one out.
Kellum Clark struck out and Slate Alford flew out to center to end the game.
Can State still get to Hoover?
Friday’s loss to A&M certainly made the road more difficult for MSU to find its way in the postseason. There is a path, however, but it requires tons of help from other teams around the SEC.
Currently, MSU sits a game back of Missouri and Georgia for the final spot in Hoover.
The first step for the Bulldogs is finding a way to bounce back in tomorrow afternoon’s season finale, with Jurrangelo Cijntje on the mound.
Without a win tomorrow, the rest of this doesn’t matter.
Vanderbilt’s win over Arkansas Friday night also helped.
If LSU beats Georgia and the Commodores beat the Razorbacks tomorrow, LSU would leapfrog Arkansas in the overall conference standings. With the Tigers being the highest common opponent between Georgia and MSU, the Bulldogs would win the tiebreaker due to last weekend’s series win in Baton Rouge.
State can’t jump Missouri, because any tiebreaker with the Tigers would come down to Vanderbilt, who State went 0-3 against, while Missouri went 1-2.
For now, that slim chance is the only thing the Bulldogs can hang their hat on.
“Just keep fighting,” Smith said. “Stay in the fight. Even though we are down, we are not out. Just kind of living on that.”
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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