STARKVILLE — Chris Lemonis and the Mississippi State coaching staff laid out the Bulldogs’ hitting strategy: Stay on top of the ball, use the middle of the field and find the gap.
MSU’s batters apparently didn’t pay much attention.
The Bulldogs (18-12) tied a program record with six home runs in Tuesday’s 13-2, run-rule rout of UT Martin (8-18) at Dudy Noble Field.
“They didn’t listen too well, I guess; they only hit homers tonight,” Lemonis said.
Mississippi State scored 10 runs in the first three innings and got on the board in five of its six at-bats in the seven-inning midweek contest.
The Bulldogs put up 14 hits in the blowout victory over the Skyhawks, keeping their offense fine-tuned ahead of this weekend’s series with No. 19 LSU.
“Our offense was good tonight,” Lemonis said. “We just had a lot of good balls.”
Hunter Hines, Kellum Clark, Tanner Leggett and Brad Cumbest each left the park for Mississippi State, while Luke Hancock topped them all with two homers.
Hancock homered on Saturday and Sunday at No. 2 Arkansas and tripled his season total of two in just four days.
Hancock said he felt like he was seeing the ball well even before his recent hot streak, but recent adjustments he made with the help of hitting coach Jake Gautreau paid off. Hancock said he moved his hands up and moved his bat back, and the results have been clear.
“Ever since then, I’ve kind of just taken off,” Hancock said.
The Bulldogs are hoping to follow his lead after a key 12-inning win over Arkansas to salvage a game Sunday, taking that momentum into Tuesday’s midweek contest.
Mississippi State put up three runs in the first and second and added four in the third to reach double digits rapidly.
Cumbest added a long solo homer in the fourth and Hancock hit a moonshot in the sixth for his second homer of the game. A wild pitch in the sixth plated the Bulldogs’ final run.
Hancock went deep for a two-run shot in the first and Hines added a solo homer. An error and two sac flies accounted for the three-spot in the second inning, while Clark went deep to center and Leggett hit a two-run homer to left in the third.
The Bulldogs’ pitching was nearly as flawless as their offense Tuesday. A pair of solo home runs allowed by starter Brandon Smith in the third was all the Skyhawks could speak of.
Lemonis praised Smith’s ability to locate his fastball and complement it with his change-up and slider. Smith gave up back-to-back homers to UT Martin’s Jack Culumovic and Casey Harford, but those were the only blemishes on a four-inning, seven-strikeout night.
“I feel like I made a good pitch on one of those, and sometimes when that happens, you just have to tip your cap to that guy and just go back to work,” Smith said.
Mikey Tepper pitched two scoreless innings and allowed just one hit, striking out four. KC Hunt finished out the game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
The duo of relievers is coming on strong after a slow start to the year — Tepper had a few rough outings, while Hunt missed more than a month with injury.
“Those guys work extremely hard, and Foxhall does a great job of working with them,” Smith said. “They went out there and proved that they’re capable of anything.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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