Midweek games were not Mississippi State’s strong suit last season, to the point where catcher Johnny Long admitted the Bulldogs did not always bring the same energy as they did for a Southeastern Conference weekend.
While MSU has stumbled through the first half of SEC play this year, the Bulldogs do at least seem to have solved their midweek woes. After dropping its first two non-weekend games of the season to Southern Miss and Troy — both of whom are currently ranked in the top 25 — MSU has won seven consecutive midweek contests, the latest one coming Tuesday night in an 8-3 road victory over Alabama-Birmingham.
“I don’t know how locked in we were,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis said. “We won, but I just chewed them a little bit because I feel like we can play a little better in the midweek. Our pitching really helps us out because we can match up with better arms than most. We have a little more depth than most.”
Two-way player Noah Sullivan made his fifth straight midweek start on the mound, and the Blazers were the first team to score against him. UAB scored twice in the second inning on back-to-back RBI doubles, and Sullivan was done after allowing five hits in just two frames.
First out of the bullpen was freshman Ryan McPherson, coming off four scoreless innings in last week’s midweek win at Memphis. He was nearly as sharp this time, giving up just one hit and allowing an unearned run in four innings of work while striking out five. McPherson worked around back-to-back walks in the fourth, then capped his appearance by striking out the side in order in the sixth.
Nate Williams followed McPherson with four strikeouts in two scoreless innings, and Luke Dotson, making his first appearance since Mar. 29, struck out two in a three-up, three-down ninth. In all, the bullpen allowed two hits and struck out 11 batters in seven innings of work.
“That was another good week for Ryan. Nate Williams was great, and we just had to get (Dotson) out there,” Lemonis said. “We’ll be able to use Ryan on Sunday, probably, and Nate will be ready for Friday, Nate and (Dotson). They got out there, got good work, got clean work, and moving on from there.”
MSU (20-13) turned a pair of free passes into two runs in the first. Gehrig Frei was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and Ace Reese walked, and then Sullivan drove in the game’s first run with a double into the right-field corner. Hunter Hines brought in Reese with an RBI groundout to make it 2-0.
The Bulldogs did not manage another hit until the fifth, when they rallied for four runs to take the lead for good. Ross Highfill walked with one out and scored on Frei’s RBI double, with Frei coming home on an infield hit by Reese. That brought up Sullivan, who launched a 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence for his eighth home run of the season and third in as many games.
“That was the key to tonight’s game,” Lemonis said. “Noah Sullivan had some big swings, Gehrig Frei, and sometimes it’s just timely hitting. That’s what we did tonight. They matched us with the same amount of hits and everything else, but our guys got some big hits when they needed them.”
MSU loaded the bases in the eighth and cashed in on a two-run single from Gatlin Sanders to pull away from the Blazers (18-15), who have two midweek wins over Auburn this year.
The Bulldogs, coming off their first SEC series win of the season last weekend against South Carolina, open a three-game series at No. 12 Alabama on Friday evening.
“Our standard is to play the game as (well) as we can and keep growing,” Lemonis said. “There’s just certain areas I feel like we lack a little bit. It’s typical for every team in the SEC because you play (with) so much excitement on the weekends and then you play midweeks. But if you want to play professional baseball, you play every day. You play in front of all types of crowds and you show up ready to go.”
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