BY BEN PORTNOY
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball coach Chris Lemonis took a moment to speak with senior center fielder Jake Mangum on Saturday after his team’s 7-2 victory against Central Michigan in the NCAA tournament’s Starkville Regional.
As Mangum’s four game hitless streak — the longest of his career — persisted, Lemonis said the Bulldogs needed a “Jake hit.”
Mangum pounded the slump into submission Sunday.
The spark came innocently enough in the fourth inning, when the Southeastern Conference’s all-time hits leader delivered with a dribbler down to the third base side of the pitcher’s mound. Miami right-hander Slade Cecconi fielded the ball, but he slipped as he collected himself, which helped Mangum beat the throw to first base.
“I hit a ball four feet,” Mangum said. “And baseball, the weird game it is, I started finding some barrels.”
Mangum added another single and a double in a two-run eighth that helped top-seeded and No. 6 national seed MSU defeat second-seeded Miami 5-2 before a crowd of 9,014 in the deciding game of the Starkville Regional at Dudy Noble Field.
With MSU (49-13) clinging to a 3-2 lead in the eighth, Mangum dug in for his fourth and final plate appearance. Sitting on an 0-1 pitch, Mangum roped a double into the right-center field gap to move senior Marshall Gilbert to third base.
“He is the ultimate competitor,” Lemonis said. “We knew he’d fight out of it.”
Mangum led the Southeastern Conference in hits (97) and ranked second in batting average (.363) as of May 24. His effort against Miami (41-20) helped him become the first player in program history to post multiple 100-hit seasons. He now has 100 hits, which is one shy of his total last season. The double was the 71st of his career, which moved him into a tie atop the MSU career chart with Travis Chapman (1997-2000).
MSU is 26-3 when Mangum records a multi-hit game. It is 21-10 when he doesn’t.
“It’s miserable to be struggling and losing,” Mangum said. “But when you’re winning it’s easy to stay positive — and that’s a testament to the guys in that locker room.”
Shortstop Jordan Westburg, who hit .140 in May, went 2-for-4 with two RBIs — both of which came on a two-run double in the eighth that stretched MSU’s lead to three.
Mangum and Westburg combined for five of MSU’s eight hits — a stark contrast from the 18 runs and 28 hits it posted against Central Michigan and Southern earlier in the weekend.
Junior Dustin Skelton and sophomore Tanner Allen added RBI singles in the three-run fourth.
Sophomore Justin Foscue plated MSU’s other run with a sacrifice fly to deep center field in the same frame.
MSU’s pitching staff continued its steady ride through the NCAA tournament.
Senior Peyton Plumlee, who started his first game since May 18, allowed two runs on five hits and struck out three. He struck out at least three for the fifth time in his last six starts.
“I was talking to coach (Scott) Foxhall before the game and usually when I get to the field I start getting the jitters leading up to any start, or any game really,” Plumlee said. “I told him today I felt really comfortable for some reason and I didn’t have those nerves just because of the comfort I have with our guys and the way they were hitting the ball.
“I knew that if I went into the game and kept it close and gave us a shot to win the bats were going to pick me up.”
Seniors Cole Gordon and Jared Liebelt, redshirt junior Trysten Barlow, and junior Colby White allowed three hits in the final four innings.
Lemonis initially said Gordon wouldn’t be available for the game given he had thrown three innings the last two nights. But Gordon spoke to Lemonis in pregame warmups and convinced him to let him earn his 11th save.
With the victory, MSU advances to the Super Regionals for the fourth-straight season. It is the only program in the nation to accomplish that feat.
MSU will play host to Stanford or Fresno State in the best-of-three Super Regional this weekend. The Cardinal, the No. 11 national seed, and Bulldogs will play a decisive game seven at 9 p.m. Monday in Palo Alto, California.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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