STARKVILLE — Mississippi State right-hander Nate Dohm was displeased with himself after taking a comebacker off the chest during Thursday night’s series opener against Mount St. Mary’s.
“That was kind of embarrassing there,” Dohm said. “I thought it was hit a little harder than it was and I ended up falling off-balance after it hit me. More than anything, I was just mad at myself for how I reacted to it.”
Looking back on it, it was a humorous blip in what was arguably his best outing of the season for the Bulldogs and his third-straight solid start.
Dohm shut down The Mount offensively, allowing four hits and one earned run as he struck out eight while walking none over seven innings, setting the tone for a 12-run explosion from MSU in a 12-2 win.
“He was pretty vibrant coming back a day short from last week and a long outing last week,” head coach Chris Lemonis said. “The first couple innings, they were super aggressive, so it was minimal pitches. He got a chance to roll, we got him a bit of a lead and it was really good. I thought he was crisp.”
Just like in Tuesday’s wild 19-6 win over Jackson State, the Bulldogs (6-4) showed patience at the plate, working nine walks, five in the eighth inning alone.
Leadoff hitter Amani Larry, playing as the designated hitter on the afternoon, worked four walks of his own, with his lone official at-bat resulting in a screaming liner right to Mountaineers center fielder Josh Braxton.
Mississippi State had a number of hard-hit balls that went right to Mount St. Mary’s fielders, but hitters kept attacking the zone and producing good contact as a result.
“We just stuck to the approach that Coach [Jake Gautreau] gave us,” David Mershon said. “… A lot of balls were hit hard. I think Bryce Chance hit the ball hard every at-bat and only had one hit. It’s the nature of this game. All you can control is a good at-bat.”
The Bulldogs got on the board first in the first inning, a two-run single for Hunter Hines, but Mount St. Mary’s got a run back of its own in the fourth, the score staying 2-1 until a three-run sixth gave the Bulldogs a commanding 5-1 lead.
If any inning was the decider, it was the eighth, one where the Mountaineers fell apart on the mound, allowing seven runs, five of them without Mississippi State recording a hit.
Three bases-loaded walks and a few productive outs put the game out of reach and allowed the Bulldogs to get this series started off on the right foot.
“We’ve been preaching it,” Lemonis said. “I stood up here and preached it about four hours ago. You gotta control your counts. You gotta control what you want to hit, especially in RBI situations. They’ve done a better job of slowing it down over the last week or so, getting a better pitch to hit or taking the walk.”
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