In what could end up being a season-saving series, the Mississippi State Baseball team tallied back-to-back comeback wins at No. 2 LSU to keep itself in the postseason conversation.
Once down 13-4 in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match, the Bulldogs erased their deficit behind five RBIs from Dakota Jordan, a two-run homer from Slate Alford and a 10th-inning fielder’s choice by Colton Ledbetter to win 14-13.
MSU also scored eight runs after the sixth inning in Saturday’s win over the Tigers, leading to its series win.
Here is what we learned from this weekend’s series:
Smart pitching rotation decision gave MSU a chance
MSU probably doesn’t win this series without Chris Lemonis shaking up his pitching rotation.
LSU ace Paul Skenes, a potential top-five pick in this year’s MLB Draft, was as dominant as he’s been all season for LSU in its 12-1, seven-inning run-rule victory Friday night, striking out 13 batters in a complete-game effort.
Instead of wasting Cade Smith’s start on Friday against Skenes, where Smith has normally pitched in the Bulldogs’ weekend rotation, Lemonis shifted Smith’s start to Saturday, using freshman Evan Siary somewhat as a “sacrifice”.
The move paid off as Smith allowed two earned runs in six innings of work during his start, striking out seven batters in Saturday’s 9-4 comeback victory by the Bulldogs.
Jurrangelo Cijntje’s rough stretch
Since the tail end of his five-inning start at Auburn on April 23, Cijntje has struggled on the mound for the Bulldogs.
In his last three starts, including Sunday’s against the Tigers, MSU’s true freshman pitcher has allowed 16 earned runs over 9 2/3 innings.
During that span, he has made it out of the third inning just once, pitching one inning at Tennessee and only two innings Sunday at LSU. It was reported after the game that Cijntje was battling a stomach virus, per Lemonis.
Cijntje has also allowed six homers during that span, including a three-run shot to LSU’s Brayden Jobert in the second inning of Sunday’s game, which gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead at the time.
How can MSU get to Hoover?
With one SEC series left, the conversation for the Bulldogs shifts to how it can find a way into Hoover for the conference tournament.
The road got a lot easier with this weekend’s series win, but the Bulldogs still need a lot of help.
The final spot in the tournament appears to be down to MSU and Missouri, after Ole Miss was eliminated from contention after getting swept by Auburn this weekend.
After Sunday’s win, the Bulldogs sit 2 games behind the Tigers, who walked off Georgia on Sunday to complete the weekend sweep, heading into next weekend’s series against Texas A&M at Dudy Noble Field.
The Tigers finish their regular season at Auburn next weekend.
Since there was no head-to-head between MSU and Missouri this season, and the teams are in separate divisions, a potential tiebreaker would move to a “won-lost record of the two teams versus the No. 1 seed using common opponents”, according to the SEC.
Arkansas, who swept Mississippi State earlier this season, is currently in line for the tournament’s No. 1 seed, but it did not play Missouri.
Since MSU didn’t play Florida, the current No. 2 seed, and Missouri didn’t play LSU, the current projected No. 3 seed, the tiebreaker would move to Vanderbilt, the projected No. 4 seed, who swept MSU, but lost one game at Missouri in early April.
Got it? Good.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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