STARKVILLE — On the night of Mississippi State baseball’s regular season home finale, the rain continued to fall. Whatever wages were paid to Dudy Noble Field’s grounds crew were well earned, as the infield was raked incessantly in-between innings after Mother Nature’s skies refused to relent. Neither did MSU’s bats.
While the droplets of water didn’t quite wash away the stink of Mississippi State’s series loss to Southeastern Conference bottom feeder Missouri last weekend, the No. 10 Bulldogs took the first step toward righting the ship with a 6-1 midweek win over Jacksonville State Tuesday. The game only lasted five innings and was called after a 30-minute rain delay after Jacksonville State batted in the top of the fifth.
Getting the start in the final midweek contest of the year was Parker Stinnett, who had an adventurous day on the mound. Stinnett walked four, hit a batter and had a batter reach on an error in two innings of work, albeit scoreless innings. The right-handed hurler stranded the bases loaded twice in his two frames, not allowing a run to cross while striking out four batters.
“We wanted to give Parker the chance to start his own innings,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. “We wanted him to get comfortable and get some innings in because lately it feels like every time we put him out there there’s runners in scoring position and the game’s on the line. So we just wanted to get him some work out there.”
The Bulldogs (37-13) struck first after Luke Hancock launched a two out, two-run shot in the bottom of the first,
“As soon as he hit that, I was like, ‘Man, we’re back,’” MSU right fielder Tanner Allen said, who went 1-for-2 with a walk.
MSU added two more runs in the second inning on a two-RBI single from Rowdey Jordan. The bottom of the third proved to be an adventure, with Brad Cumbest getting credited with a sacrifice fly after Hancock made a poor read and broke for home on a very short fly ball to right field. Fortunately for MSU, Jacksonville State catcher Alex Webb tagged Hancock moments before he started his slide into home plate, but conveniently forgot to place the ball in his glove, so Hancock was called safe. Lane Forsythe added an RBI double in the same inning to cap the scoring for the Bulldogs.
After being skipped in the Missouri series, starting Jackson Fristoe was the second man on the mound after Stinnett for MSU. Fristoe, the Bulldogs’ Sunday starter for the majority of the season, was given what Lemonis called essentially “a bullpen session.” Against Jacksonville State (24-26), Fristoe threw one perfect inning, striking out one batter on 17 pitches. He didn’t mention what the weekend plans would entail for the Bulldog pitching staff, but left Fristoe throwing as a viable option.
“We just wanted to get him a clean inning,” Lemonis said of Fristoe. “He didn’t pitch this weekend and we wanted to give him a day off because he’s pitched a good load for a freshman. I was really pleased with his stuff tonight. We’ll see how he can help us this weekend, I don’t know what we’re going to do yet.”
MSU begins its final SEC series of the year against Alabama at 6 p.m. Thursday in Tuscaloosa.
The Bulldogs will be playing for a top four seed to skip the opening round of the SEC tournament next week, but you won’t catch Lemonis telling his team what needs to happen to clinch what seed.
“I may be wrong, but I don’t think there’s a coach in our league that sits down and lays out the scenarios,” Lemonis said. “It’s just too much for them. I’m old school and it’s coach speak, but I just spoke to the team about having a good practice so we can play good this weekend. I know it’s a big deal to everyone else, but we can’t control any of that.”
Hodge is the former sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion