STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State baseball team left Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on April 30 wondering what if.
After beating Alabama in Game 1 of the Southeastern Conference series, a rainout forced MSU to play two seven-inning games on that day. The Bulldogs led 2-0 after the top of the fourth inning in the first game of the doubleheader, and took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. But four walks and a walk-off RBI single from Chance Vincent gave the Crimson Tide the victory. The Bulldogs bounced back in the nightcap for a 2-1 victory.
Following the loss, the Bulldogs realized they needed to play their best in every game.
“I do think that was a turning point because when we played them we weren’t playing our best,” junior third baseman Gavin Collins said. “We didn’t play with the utmost intensity, and we knew we had to take every game seriously and play with intensity the rest of the season.”
The loss proved to be a blessing. MSU finished the regular season with 11-straight victories, including 10-straight SEC wins, to capture its first outright SEC championship since 1989.
In the process, No. 3 MSU (40-14-1) earned the top seed in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama, and will play the winner of the game between No. 8 seed Kentucky (32-24) and No. 9 seed Alabama (31-24) at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday (SEC Network).
After the Alabama series, MSU took all three games from Missouri for its first SEC sweep. MSU won at Troy and then swept Auburn at Plainsman Park. MSU swept Arkansas last weekend to finish 21-9 in the SEC (most league wins in school history) and win nine SEC series for the first time in school history.
Junior center fielder Jacob Robson said the team learned from their failures in Tuscaloosa.
“We all came together and we knew what was at stake,” Robson said. “I think one of the biggest strengths of our team is our team chemistry and the fact we care about each other on and off the field. I think we use that to our advantage. I’ve been saying this all year, we’ve got a bunch of hard working guys with a chip on our shoulder, and we came together and we pulled through.”
MSU coach John Cohen said the loss caught his attention because the Bulldogs felt they should have won the game, but he knows every SEC team has its share of struggles.
“You don’t want it to happen to you, but if you treat it the right way, you learn from it and you improve from it, it’s worth while,” Cohen said. “If you keep doing the same things wrong over and over and over again, that’s not a good thing.”
Cohen was the starting left fielder on the 1989 team.
The Bulldogs suffered two midweek losses before the start of SEC play started that helped them re-focus. MSU blew two six-run leads in a 16-12 loss to Eastern Kentucky in 10 innings on March 15. The following day, MSU lost to Oral Roberts 3-1.
MSU regrouped to take two of three games at Vanderbilt. Robson called the Vanderbilt series “huge” because of the adversity MSU had to battle. The Bulldogs won 2-1 in 13 innings in Game 1 and 5-4 in Game 2.
The Bulldogs didn’t lose any more non-conference games.
“Those two losses are ones we wanted back, but, at the same time, you’ve got to move on,” Robson said. “You can’t change the past. We maintained our confidence throughout this entire year, and it’s better than ever now.”
MSU’s 9-4 victory against Arkansas on Saturday was what Cohen, Robson, Collins, and MSU have been working toward since last season, when the Bulldogs (24-30) finished last in the SEC (8-22) and missed the postseason.
This season, it is widely assumed MSU will earn a national seed for the NCAA tournament. It will prepare for its first game in the SEC tournament with confidence and a focus that has been sharpened through the course of a long season.
“We’re so ready to play next. We just want to know what’s next and keep going,” Collins said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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