STARKVILLE — Through the first six games, the pattern was all too familiar for the Mississippi State baseball team.
“We win one game, we lose one,” captain Luke Hancock said after Friday’s embarrassing 13-4 loss to Arizona State at Dudy Noble Field. “We win one, we lose one. We just have to be able to come back and play good baseball day in and day out.”
Over the past two days, the Bulldogs have finally started doing that.
Mississippi State (5-3) strung together perhaps its two best games of the year, winning 5-1 on Saturday and 16-3 on Sunday to take the series from the Sun Devils.
It was a big step forward for a Bulldogs team that seemed to carry last season’s struggles into the start of the 2023 campaign. MSU’s defense was suspect, its pitching was a major concern, and even its lineup was at times inconsistent.
None of those issues was visible on Saturday and Sunday as Mississippi State played nearly flawless baseball.
“We just went out there with a lot of confidence, played our ball, and it worked out,” outfielder Colton Ledbetter said.
Cleaning up the defense played a big role. After committing 13 errors in its first six games, MSU played error-free baseball on both Saturday and Sunday.
Favorable scoring made that the case when shortstop Lane Forsythe allowed a runner to score from second on a ground ball into the hole, but that play aside, the Bulldogs still played clean baseball.
That included some impressive defense, including a home run stolen at the wall by Colton Ledbetter on Saturday and third baseman Slate Alford’s nifty play on a ground ball Sunday.
“We played two clean games, making the plays we were supposed to make and even some really nice ones in there, too,” Lemonis said.
Ledbetter nearly had himself a second home run robbery Sunday, with a Luke Hill fly ball glancing off his glove and out of the ballpark in the eighth inning.
Still, no one could blame the transfer outfielder from Samford after his hot start to the season continued at the plate.
Ledbetter hit a grand slam in the fourth inning Sunday as part of a 2-for-2 day with three walks. He leads the Bulldogs in batting average (.406), home runs (three) and RBIs (16).
Ledbetter is also first on the team with seven stolen bases and has yet to be caught stealing.
“I’m just trying to get in scoring position as fast as I can, just using my speed to my advantage,” he said.
As a team, Mississippi State is a perfect 15 for 15 on the base paths.
Forsythe, now in his junior season, has three of those steals. The shortstop and No. 9 hitter cracked his second career home run Sunday and is riding a four-game hitting streak, going 5 for 11 since Wednesday against Louisiana–Monroe.
Lemonis credited Forsythe’s work in the weight room and with hitting coach Jake Gautreau for Forsythe’s continued improvement.
“You’re seeing a better offensive player right now,” Lemonis said. “He’s running better. He’s fighting two-strike a lot better. He’s really helping us at that part of the lineup.”
At the plate, the Bulldogs are firing from one through nine at a good time to do so. MSU’s schedule gets no easier this coming week with four more games on the schedule.
Mississippi State will face Southern Miss (5-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The Golden Eagles are coming off an NCAA Super Regional appearance in 2022.
“We’re going to have a packed house, I would imagine, in Jackson on Tuesday night, and we’re going to play a really good team,” Lemonis said. “One of the top teams in the country year after year after year. Scott Berry does a great job, and they have really talented players. We have to come and bring our A game for that.”
After that, the Bulldogs will compete in the Frisco College Baseball Classic in Frisco, Texas.
They open up at 6 p.m. Friday against Ohio State (3-5), face Oklahoma (4-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday and close the trip with an 11 a.m. game against California (6-1) on Sunday.
Oklahoma was a Men’s College World Series finalist in 2022, but Cal has the best résumé of any of the three teams. The Golden Bears picked up a 6-1 win Tuesday at No. 2 Stanford and beat UConn, a Super Regional team, 4-2 on Saturday.
“We have a tough stretch here,” Lemonis said. “We’re playing some really good teams on our schedule. We’ve got to step up and play good.
“We don’t have to play extra good; we just have to play the game clean like we’ve done the last two days.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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