STARKVILLE — Mississippi State pitcher Austin Sexton missed his target by six inches.
Florida first baseman Peter Alonso hit the mistake more than 400 feet.
It was that kind of weekend for MSU’s baseball team.
Alonso, a junior who has battled injury for much of the season, hit two home runs and had four RBIs as part of a season-high four-hit day in No. 8 Florida’s 10-5 victory Sunday at Dudy Noble Field.
The victory enabled the Gators (31-10, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) to sweep the three-game weekend series and climb into a first-place tie in the SEC East.
“I think if you take about three pitches out of this game, we are pretty good,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “We are not earning the fortune this game can provide to you. We are one or two pitches away from stopping them and from us scoring a bunch.”
MSU’s sixth loss in its last seven conference games dropped it to 22-19 and 6-12 in the league. With four weekends of SEC play remaining in the regular season, MSU is last in the SEC West and in jeopardy of missing the 12-team SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
Florida jumped on MSU in Game 1 Friday night and scored 18 runs in the series. MSU never owned a lead and was swept at home in a three-game conference series for the first time since 2011 (LSU), a time frame that covered 23 series.
Despite his team’s fading postseason hopes, Cohen insisted the Bulldogs are close.
“I still believe we are not that far away,” Cohen said. “I told our kids I think it’s really unfortunate that on Super Bulldog Weekend, with great weather and big crowds, that things didn’t happen for us. But we still have a lot of season left, and I know our kids will give us everything they have.”
Since beating South Carolina at home on April 4 to improve to 5-6 in league play, MSU has won once in seven games. Against Florida, MSU was never particularly close. Florida took a 2-0 lead Sunday thanks to a two-run single by cleanup hitter Josh Tobias. Alonso’s first home run of the season made it 3-0 in the third inning.
“Getting him back really makes their lineup that much better,” Cohen said of Alonso, who went 4-for-5 to raise his batting average 36 points.
MSU scored twice in the fourth on catcher Gavin Collins’ first home run of the season. A sacrifice fly by Ryan Gridley in the fifth scored Brent Rooker to tie the game.
Rooker, drawing a rare start in place of Reid Humphries, was 2-for-4 with a double.
“I’m just trying to take advantage of an opportunity,” Rooker said. “There are a lot of good hitters on this team, and only nine can play at a time. We have more than nine good hitters, so when you get your chance, you have to make it count.”
Sexton (3-4), drawing his first weekend start since a loss to Auburn on March 28, allowed five earned run in 5 1/3 innings. The bullpen — five pitchers worked in the inning — couldn’t shut the door in the sixth, as the Gators scored four runs to break the game open.
Florida, which swept South Carolina last weekend, scored in five of its nine at-bats Sunday and had 12 hits.
Reliever Taylor Lewis pitched the final 4 2/3 innings without allowing a run to earn his second win.
MSU will have four days to prepare for its next series at Arkansas.
“Our kids believe every time we hit a ball hard, it’s going to be right at somebody,” Cohen said. “And they believe when the other team hits the ball weakly, it’s going to find a hole. We’re doing some things well. We’re just not able to put things together, but we are not that far away. We can still find this thing.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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