STARKVILLE — Mississippi State and Florida were locked in a draw into the late innings, but the Gators turned on the offense in crunch time and battered the Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field.
Sound familiar?
What happened in Saturday’s 9-3 loss was almost perfectly replicated on Sunday as Florida (29-18, 11-13 Southeastern Conference) broke a 1-1 tie through seven innings and went on to beat Mississippi State (25-23, 9-15 SEC) by a 6-2 score.
“Sometimes you lose and you lose; when you play good all game and then you lose it at the very end, it’s demoralizing a little bit,” Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said. “You feel like we’re in repeat a little bit.”
It certainly felt that way as the Bulldogs were swept for the second time in SEC play, both at home. Mississippi State has lost its past five conference games and is currently well on the outside of the NCAA tournament picture.
With just two SEC series to go — at No. 13 Texas A&M and at home against No. 1 Tennessee — it’s not looking good for the Bulldogs to return to the postseason. Even a spot in the 12-team SEC tournament could be in question.
“I think we all know we’re going to have to go on a crazy run,” second baseman RJ Yeager said. “We’re more than capable. I think everybody believes that we can, and we’re just ready to get back after it.”
The Bulldogs have lost their past two series since winning back-to-back sets against Auburn and Ole Miss. Missouri took two out of three last weekend, and Florida embarrassed MSU on its own home field.
Lemonis said Mississippi State’s coaches have continued to tell players to compete and do things the right way each game, but that has grown more difficult — Yeager said “morale is low” in the home clubhouse.
“It’s harder and harder after you have three losses at home like this,” Lemonis said.
Despite seven innings of one-run ball from starter Cade Smith, the Bulldogs couldn’t salvage even one game of the weekend series. Florida took the lead against Pico Kohn in the eighth on a solo home run by Sterlin Thompson, and the Gators added four runs against Jackson Fristoe in the ninth.
Wyatt Langford snuck a ground ball through the right side to bring home two, and Thompson followed with a two-run single to put the game out of reach.
Logan Tanner hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, but it was far from enough.
Tanner’s homer was the Bulldogs’ only run since Florida lost a Hunter Hines pop-up in the sun back in the first inning, allowing Luke Hancock to score from second base. The initial frame was the Bulldogs’ only frame with multiple baserunners until Brad Cumbest reached on an error with two out in the ninth.
“I just felt like we couldn’t really string it together,” Yeager said. “We couldn’t really get that momentum today — or yesterday, for that matter.”
Mississippi State couldn’t back a strong outing from Smith, who only got better as the game went on. The right-hander settled in after traffic on the bases led to an RBI groundout from Josh Rivera in the second inning.
Smith retired the last 10 hitters he faced, ending his day with three consecutive 1-2-3 innings. He allowed just five hits and struck out seven Gators.
“Cade was great,” Lemonis said. “Really in the fifth, sixth and seventh, I thought he really settled in.”
But when Thompson took Kohn deep to right field to lead off the eighth, Mississippi State failed to respond. Lane Forsythe struck out, and Yeager and Kamren James grounded out.
It was an uninspiring response in an uninspiring game in an uninspiring series.
“I didn’t think we were real good all weekend,” Lemonis said. “We’re close in some games, but we just don’t do enough in any phase to really push ourselves away. That’s why everything seems so tight: because we never separate.”
The inability to do so has cost the Bulldogs all season. On Sunday, they paid the price again.
Mississippi State will take on Samford at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, just trying to get back into the win column.
“After losing three here, we’re fighting,” Lemonis said. “We need to play good Tuesday. We just need to get a good feeling.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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