STARKVILLE — It happened. Again.
Never mind the talk of rebounds. Forget the discussion that Mississippi State’s Sunday meeting with No. 2 Arkansas (19-3, 5-1 SEC) was the most important game of the Bulldogs’ season to date.
For the third day in a row, miscues cost MSU (17-7, 2-4). For the third day in a row, the Bulldogs walked off the field in defeat. And for the third day in a row, MSU was outclassed by one of the nation’s premier programs, falling to Arkansas 6-4.
“We just got manhandled in all phases of the game,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis said. “We got beat. That includes coaching. We got beat in every phase of the game. We’ve got a good team, but we did not show up ready to play this weekend.”
One night after a pair of mistakes gave Arkansas signs of life, it was another erratic MSU effort that helped the Razorbacks to their first series sweep in Starkville since 2010.
Freshman Jackson Fristoe earned his first Sunday start in two weeks after he was relegated to bullpen duty in favor of hard-throwing Canadian Eric Cerantola at LSU seven days ago.
For three-plus innings, Fristoe looked the part of the high-end prospect scouts saw him as during the 2020 MLB draft process. His fastball sat in the low to mid-90s. His breaking-ball located with ease. But like days past, it was fielding issues behind Fristoe that sent his start south.
With runners on second and third in the third inning, Fristoe quickly clamped down with a pair of strikeouts. One batter later, Jalen Battles smoked a hard-hit ball to Kamren James. In need of a quick, lengthy throw, James leapt to his feet and fired the ball into the padding behind first base as another Arkansas run crossed home.
Following James’ errant throw, Robert Moore added a third Arkansas run with a bases clearing triple to right field that flew over the outstretched glove of fourth-year junior outfielder Tanner Allen.
“We don’t get off the field this weekend and it kills us,” Lemonis said. “I mean it kills us in the fourth (inning) today.”
Looking for an offensive spark that’d been lost for the bulk of the weekend, MSU gave fans a brief opportunity at excitement when Luke Hancock and Logan Tanner blasted back-to-back homers in the sixth inning to pull the Bulldogs within two.
But as has been the case all too often through two weeks of Southeastern Conference play, the Bulldogs continuously failed to put ample pressure on Arkansas.
In the fourth inning, Allen flied out with the bases loaded and a chance to pull even.
Irritated with the ill-fated swing, a fan just below the press box let out his own frustrations. “Dammit T.A.,” he yelled toward no one in particular.
Third-year sophomore Brad Cumbest followed suit in the eighth inning. Stepping into the box with runners on first and second and one out, Cumbest stared at three consecutive fastballs. All three pitches found the zone. Once more, MSU stranded a runner in scoring position.
“You’ve got to learn to be in the moment,” Allen said of how MSU can improve in two-out and crucial situations. “Around here our saying this year is ‘Right here, right now.’ For instance, if you’re struggling throughout the game, late in the game, you’re going to have a big at-bat. You should not let the at-bats beforehand affect that at-bat in the big moment.”
Second-year freshman reliever Landon Sims delivered the most emblematic performance of the day and, perhaps, the weekend. Striking out two of the first four batters he faced, Sims sat between 93 and 98 miles per hour on the radar gun located on the center field scoreboard. He also walked in a run with the bases loaded in the sixth.
Sims’ final line was, for the most part, what onlookers have come to expect from the dazzling righty: 3.2 innings pitched and five strikeouts on 63 pitches. The four walks he surrendered were new. So too was the run that scored under his watch, though it was credited to Houston Harding.
Like the Bulldogs’ weekend, Sims’ outing was electric in spurts, but was tinged with moments of ill-fated play that ultimately sank MSU.
“I guess Landon gives up a run — I know it wasn’t his — but he wasn’t even as sharp as he is,” Lemonis said. “But he gutted through it, because he’s a competitor.”
Heading out of a weekend that began with a bang and ended with a whimper, MSU failed its test to prove itself among the nation’s elite.
Lemonis was well aware of the sweep’s ramifications postgame. So too was Allen. But as the Bulldogs’ vocal outfielder reminded reporters, 24 SEC games and a slew of midweek contests remain in a year that is still in its infancy.
“Everybody that thinks that the season is over with has lost their mind, I would say,” Allen proclaimed. “But like I said man, new week.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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