HOOVER, Ala. — Zac Houston’s heart sank as he looked out to left field.
Houston watched as Reid Humphreys drifted back to the fence in pursuit of Chance Vincent’s blast. Humphreys tracked the ball to the wall and reached up at the last second to take a home run away and record the first out of the top of the eighth inning. Houston showed his appreciation with a downward fist pump, much like a golfer would do after sinking an important putt.
“Right off the bat I was like, ‘OK, there’s a pop up.’ Then it kept drifting further and further and I started getting a little worried,” Houston said. “Whenever he made the catch I was like, ‘All right. That was nice.’ ”
Houston didn’t have much to worry about Wednesday, as he threw a career-high 8 2/3 innings and allowed four hits to help top-seeded and No. 2 MSU beat Alabama 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Top-seeded MSU (41-14-1) will play No. 7 and fifth-seeded LSU at approximately 8 tonight (SEC Network) in a winners’ bracket game. LSU beat Florida 5-3 in 14 innings. Junior right-hander Dakota Hudson (9-3, 2.29 ERA) will start for the Bulldogs, who have won 12 in a row. Ninth-seeded Alabama (32-25) will play No. 4 and fourth-seeded Florida at approximately 1 p.m. today (SEC Network).
Houston (5-0) retired 13 in a row from the fifth to the ninth, and 19 of 20 from the third to the ninth.
MSU coach John Cohen said Tuesday his team’s plan was to use several pitchers out of the bullpen. The strategy changed when Houston showed Cohen and pitching coach Wes Johnson he was ready to pitch for a while.
“His stuff is always there. His work ethic is always there, but was he going to throw enough strikes?” Cohen said. “It became really apparent to us, certainly early on, he was going to be able not only throw strikes, but get to his glove hand side.”
Houston threw 79 strikes in 120 pitches. He looked like he was going to pitch a complete-game shutout, but the Poplarville native gave up a two-out double to left field to Georgie Salem in the ninth — the first hit off of him since the third. Chandler Taylor followed with an RBI double that hit the top of right field hit the top of the wall and bounced back in. Blake Smith struck out Will Haynie on three breaking balls for his fourth save.
Houston’s great command kept the Crimson Tide off balance. The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder walked none and struck out five. He entered the game with 16 walks and 27 strikeouts in 24 innings this season. His outing eclipsed his previous career-long effort (six innings) in a 1-0 victory against Nicholls State on Feb. 28.
“He was commanding it on both sides of the plate,” Taylor said. “He was really spot Johnny. When a guy’s throwing 92, 95 (mph) all night and he’s spotting it up at the knees on both sides of the plate, it’s going to be hard to hit, I don’t care who you are.”
Cohen was going to let Houston pitch through the shutout, but he didn’t hesitate to go to Smith.
Cohen said Johnson came to him Saturday after a victory against Arkansas and said they needed to get Houston on the mound as soon as possible. Houston made some mechanical changes and they really impressed Johnson.
After a perfect first, Taylor reached first base on an error by third baseman Gavin Collins to lead off the second. Houston retired Haynie on a fly out to Humphreys in left field for the first out and Cody Henry to fly out to Jake Mangum in right field for the second out. Vincent singled to center field and Daniel Brown started to warm up in the bullpen, but Houston forced Daniel Cucjen to fly out to Jacob Robson in center field for the final out.
From there, Houston settled in. When he reached the fifth, he was on.
“I felt like I really had command over all my pitches,” Houston said. “Early in the game I was just trying to shove the fastball in there and beat barrels. Toward the middle of the game I felt like I wasn’t pitching, I wasn’t just throwing the ball.”
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the first when Collins drove home Mangum with a single to left field. Mangum grounded out to second base, but John Holland scored to push the lead to 2-0 in the third.
Collins began the fourth with a solo home run to make it 3-0 and Rooker singled to left field to drive home Collins in the sixth.
Collins went 4-for-4, while Mangum and Holland had two hits. The Bulldogs had 12 hits, but they left eight men on.
Although Collins had two errors, Cohen called it the best defensive performance for MSU. Houston was happy to have Humphreys, Holland (second base), and Ryan Gridley (shortstop) playing behind him to give him a chance.
“It doesn’t matter where they put it in play, I feel like we have a chance to make an out on that play,” Houston said. “That’s very comforting when you’re pitching in the SEC.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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