HATTIESBURG — After the first day of its season, the Mississippi State baseball team was searching for contact of any kind. Six hits and 11 strikeouts left MSU scoreless and on the brink of losing the first series of the season.
Day Two gave MSU the contact it was looking for, just not in the right situations.
MSU (0-2) rebounded for 12 hits but produced just four runs, three times hitting into double plays that prove costly in Saturday’s 7-4 loss to Southern Mississippi (2-0). The final game of the series is at 1 p.m. Sunday and MSU will try to avoid its first 0-3 start since 1996.
“I thought we got better as a team today as the team went on,” MSU coach Andy Cannizaro said, pointing out MSU out hit USM 12-11.
MSU showed signs of life before the bad luck struck: down 5-0 entering the third, center fielder Jake Mangum led off with a double before freshman first baseman Josh Hatcher followed with a home run to right field, the only runs USM starter Stevie Powers would allow in his 4 1/3 innings.
All other shots at getting within striking distance met unfortunate ends.
In the fourth, Hatcher walked after shortstop Luke Alexander led off with a single, but sophomore catcher Dustin Skelton grounded into a double play; freshman left fielder Rowdey Jordan flied out with a runner on third to end the inning.
Hunter Stovall hit into a double play in the fifth and Alexander did it in the eighth — after MSU scored a run — for the third USM double play of the game.
After it all, Cannizaro maintained a sense of resolve; he chose to focus on the improvement he saw from game one to game two and the further improvement he knows is coming.
“I give (USM Friday night starter Nick) Sandlin a lot of credit last night, he was outstanding,” Cannizaro said. “Today we had great at-bats against a lefty and we continued to have great ABs as the game went on.
“Offensively, we have young kids that are learning on the job. There are a lot of new guys to college baseball, we played in a hostile environment the last two days.”
Hatcher, one of the new additions, has not been fazed by college baseball, but MSU also had third baseman Tanner Allen and left fielder Rowdey Jordan that qualify, plus Friday’s catcher Marshall Gilbert.
The value of experience may have manifested itself Saturday in relief pitcher Trysten Barlow. The sophomore finished the game with a scoreless 2 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out three. He did it all in 29 pitches.
“I saw some really good things out of Trysten Barlow on the mound in terms of him attacking,” Cannizaro said.
MSU knows it will have to do as Barlow did if it wants to avoid the 0-3 start to the season. Even if the worst happens, all involved are aware the ramifications are not that deep: all they have to do is consider the competition.
“Guys, that’s an outstanding baseball team. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re physical and they’re really aggressive,” Cannizaro said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth in the first two innings, but I thought we came back, got into the game a little bit and started to string some things together offensively.”
MSU starting pitcher Ethan Small (0-1) saw the same things and saw them early. He said one of the home runs he allowed was on a breaking ball outside of the strike zone.
“They’re a great hitting ball club: sometimes they’re hitting pitches a couple of inches off the plate,” Small said.
Southern Miss won the opener, 11-0 Friday night.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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