STARKVILLE – Just over two weeks ago Mississippi State’s baseball team was feeling on top of the world.
It was riding the high of two straight sweeps in SEC play, the first over usual conference heavyweight Vanderbilt and the latter over arch-rival Ole Miss. With a top-heavy hitting order and some blazing arms on the mound, the Bulldogs looked every bit of their top-five national ranking – then No. 4 Georgia came to town and delivered a wake-up call. The visiting Bulldogs stole a 10-9 win from MSU in Game 1 and then proceeded to hold for two more narrow wins. It marked the first time Mississippi State had been swept at home in conference play since Texas did it to begin the SEC slate last season.
A stumbling Tennessee (24-12, 7-8) team, which had lost its last two SEC series to LSU and Vanderbilt and even dropped a three-game series to Kent State early in the year, was next on the docket for MSU – and the Volunteers sent the Bulldogs (26-10, 7-8 SEC) reeling for the second straight week.
Behind some impeccable pitching and an offense that was as productive as it gets, Tennessee made quick work of Mississippi State over the weekend at Dudy Noble Field with a stunning sweep of the Bulldogs by a combined score of 19-9.
Head coach Brian O’Connor said there were some frustrated faces in the MSU locker room, and even O’Connor himself wore a scowl that stuck out from under his ballcap after the Vols claimed the series finale, 7-2, on Sunday. He said the team was frustrated at what had just transpired, but already ready to get back on the field and fix it.
“You can’t hit the panic button. … There’s obviously some things we have to get better at and there’s things that we have gotten away from the last two weeks that have made us a great team and we’re not doing that in most of the phases of the game,” he said. “Great players have to make plays, make pitches and drive in runs and those are the things we are just not doing enough of.”
Bats go cold
If there was one thing the Bulldogs could hang their hat on for the most part of the season, . MSU came into the series with an SEC-leading .325 batting average and were top-three in RBI, but only got going in Game 1, a 6-5 loss.
The Bulldogs’ top three hitters, Aiden Teel, Bryce Chance and Ace Reece, went a combined 0-for-12 at the plate in Game 2, leaving the middle hitters to do the heavy lifting in a 6-2 loss in which the team was out-hit 13-8. Game 3 was much of the same as Reese and Teel both went 1-for-4 while the Vols piled on seven singles and two doubles.
Suddenly, putting a ball in play seemed like an impossible feat for a team that has made a living on hits.
“It’s a testament to Tennessee’s pitching,” O’Connor said of the Vols, who struck out MSU 32 times and issued only two walks. “Let me tell you, these two starters they’ve run out there, the two left-handers, they are really good – that’s part of it.”
Under the microscope
The series loss moved MSU to below .500 in SEC games and down the ladder of the SEC standings to 10th place. For Tennessee, it was a momentum-building victory they desperately needed after struggling to find footing among the other talented squads in the SEC under first-year head coach Josh Elander, who replaced Tommy Vitelo, now the manager of MLB’s San Francisco Giants.
MSU will get a tune-up midweek game at Samford (17-17, 5-4 SOCON) on Tuesday before beginning a series at South Carolina (20-17, 3-12) on Friday.
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