UPDATE — Rain has washed out Friday’s series opener. MSU and Ole Miss will play a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon with 45 minutes between games.
STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State baseball team finds itself here — 15-15, 2-7 and last in the Southeastern Conference — in desperate need of a breakthrough. The league’s worst offense by both batting average (.256) and runs scored (139, 4.6 per game) is convinced a reversal of one fortune can change it all.
MSU needs hits with runners on base.
Such have been hard to come by over MSU’s last four weekend series: the Bulldogs hit .157 (28-for-178) with runners on base and .140 (15-for-107) with runners in scoring position in series against Utah Valley, Vanderbilt, Missouri and LSU. The timing to solve it could not be better beginning 6:30 p.m. Friday (SEC Network+) with a three-game series against No. 3 Ole Miss (26-4, 6-3 SEC).
“We’ve been snakebit this year,” junior center fielder Jake Mangum said. “I know we haven’t done what we need to do offensively, but there’s been a lot of games where we hit a lot of balls hard and hopefully they’ll start dropping.”
Mangum illustrated his point Wednesday night by pointing to the game outfielder Hunter Vansau just had, ending his night in the win over Southern hitless but with one ball robbed at the center field wall and another hit hard directly to the right fielder. If tough luck is the root of MSU’s woes, the luck has been longlasting and unforgiving.
The state of the lineup reveals itself most in freshman designated hitter/first baseman Tanner Allen, who has stayed MSU’s 3-hole hitter throughout the slump despite hitting .166 (4-for-24) with runners on base and .133 (2-for-15) with runners in scoring position. Over that 12-game sample, MSU has gotten a .115 batting average with runners on base from its 4-hole hitter, .125 from the fifth spot, .157 from sixth, .142 from seventh and .066 from eighth.
MSU has tested numerous lineup configurations to snap the skid: freshman first baseman/designated hitter Josh Hatcher has hit fourth, fifth and seventh in that time, while Vansau has seen at-bats in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. Those 12 games have seen MSU try four No. 4 hitters, five No. 5 hitters, five in the 6-hole and seven in the 7-hole.
Early in the skid, MSU interim coach Gary Henderson pointed to executing the simple things better as a potential fix. He continues to preach it two weeks later.
“Do the basics: swing at strikes early in the count would be good, reduce the number of times we’re hitting with two strikes would be good, swing at more fastballs, have a good plan and good approach when you come to the plate,” Henderson said. “(Assistant) Coach (Jake) Gautreau likes to talk about being stubborn in your approach, and that makes sense. We need to do as good a job as we can of having a solid approach, knowing what we’re looking for and following through with it.”
Mangum points to another fact — youth. Freshmen have combined to go 13-for-86 (.151) with runners on base and MSU has had to turn to them early and often: in MSU’s nine conference games, it has had at least three freshmen in the starting lineup all but once, with four freshmen in the lineup four times.
Mangum’s own freshman experience gives him reason to hope.
“Our record is not what we want it to be in the SEC at all, but we still have seven series left, a lot of stuff can happen. My freshman year we were 10-9 going into the last game at Alabama and we won the SEC at 21-9,” Mangum said. “The season is not over, and anyone that is dropping their head on the season, we’re not worried about that. This team is ready to play and we all know what this weekend is.
“You have to keep getting better, that’s all you can do.”
Henderson is certain of one thing: the best way to get better is through experience and further at-bats.
“Sometimes it takes an entire season. Sometimes it takes a while and they can get better at any point in time,” Henderson said. “Experience, and staying positive. That part’s huge.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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