STARKVILLE — Nearly everything about Mississippi State’s 12-0 win over Grambling State on Tuesday felt routine. From the press box to the stands, to the left field lounge, and even to the Bulldogs at the plate, the result felt like a foregone conclusion.
The No. 4-ranked team in the country had a home matchup against a 9-18 SWAC club and extended its winning run to eight games despite striking out 11 times.
The game was a run-rule result, meaning an early end on a short week, and the Bulldog bullpen again showed plenty of promise with strong outings from Chris Billingsley Jr. and freshman Jack Bauer, the latter striking out the side in the fourth inning.
It also saw the Bulldogs improve to 25-4, a historic start matched only by previous MSU College World Series teams.
But one person wasn’t too happy about the routine feeling of a team on the rise, and that was MSU head coach Brian O’Connor.
“After the game, candidly, I let them have it a little bit. And they need that,” he said. “They need to continue to be reminded of what the foundation of this baseball program is about. That part of that foundation is that great players come ready to play with the right approach every day, no matter what. And I just didn’t feel tonight, from an offensive standpoint, that our approach is what it needs to be.”
To the credit of Grambling’s pitchers, some strikeouts were well executed during a bullpen game for the Tigers. Still, the rate of strikeouts, even from MSU’s starters after a prolific weekend, would appear to be evidence of the kind of complacency O’Connor wants to snuff out with a big series on the horizon.
“My responsibility as the leader, their mentor and the guy that’s gonna shoot straight, is to tell them that. And I did, and they need to continue to be reminded, because this program is not going to be about giving days away and taking days off,” he said. “If you want to accomplish what this team accomplished, all that’s great, the wins and everything like that. The wins are a byproduct of the foundation of what your program is about. You’re not going to win them all, certainly we haven’t won them all. We’ve been in every game, even the four losses. We had chances in those games and that goes back to them being prepared and equipped every day to go out and play good, hard-nosed Mississippi State baseball.”
The Bulldogs will face their conference namesake this week, a prolific Georgia team that has climbed into the Top 5 of the national rankings. UGA is 24-6, 7-2 in SEC play, and fresh off of a sweep against South Carolina in Athens. Their midweek matchup was a bit more eventful than they might have expected, a 14-9 win over Georgia State, but they arrive in Starkville with plenty of confidence, having yet to lose an SEC series.
For O’Connor, though, his focus on Tuesday wasn’t so much on who is coming to town next, but rather if his players are approaching the matchup in the right way.
“Don’t care about the runs, I care more about the approach you take every day,” he said. “We were fortunate. We won the ball game 12-0, I understand that. But my responsibility is to educate them on what it takes to be their best, so we as a team can be our best. If you’re a position player and you want to take your talents to the highest level of baseball, when you’re in AA you can’t give days away, because there’s somebody snipping on your heels. Maybe tonight taught some of them a lesson, not only of what it takes to win in a State uniform and be our best, but also when their time is done here, if they really want a shot to accomplish their dreams, you’ve got to bring it every day.”
MSU’s SEC series against No. 5 Georgia begins today at 6 p.m. at Dudy Noble Field.
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