STARKVILLE — The final three-week sprint to the end of the regular season begins this weekend, and Mississippi State will need to find another gear under interim head coach Justin Parker to return to the NCAA Tournament.
In the visitors’ dugout at Dudy Noble Field will be an old friend and potential future bench boss for the Bulldogs. MSU hosts Kentucky for a three-game series beginning Friday evening, and Wildcats head coach Nick Mingione was a longtime assistant with the Bulldogs from 2009 through 2016 under John Cohen.
After winning 22 games in Southeastern Conference play and reaching the Men’s College World Series for the first time ever last year, Kentucky (25-17, 10-11 SEC) has regressed to the middle of the pack. The Wildcats have a few questionable losses to non-power conference teams, most recently a 6-4 defeat at Western Kentucky on Tuesday night. But Kentucky also won a series at then-No. 2 Tennessee and took a marathon middle game against Texas.
“You know they’re going to play high tempo. You know they’re going to run. You know they’re going to do the short game,” Parker said. “They’re going to exploit a lot of your weaknesses defensively.”
The Wildcats will put pressure on an MSU team that has struggled to slow down the running game, as they lead the SEC with 107 stolen bases. Kentucky has 54 of those in SEC play, far more than second-place Oklahoma’s 34. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, have just seven through 21 conference games.
Cole Hage is the Wildcats’ best all-around hitter, with a .331/.459/.600 triple slash and 10 home runs. Tyler Bell and Patrick Herrera are also dangerous at the plate, but in terms of power, this is not one of the SEC’s stronger lineups. The Wildcats playing in a pitcher-friendly home park accounts for some of that, but the numbers do drop off quickly after the top portion of the order.
“We’re going to have our hands full. We’re going to have to play good baseball,” Parker said. “It’s going to be a more taxing weekend from a tactical standpoint. We’re going to have to really defend the short game. It’s a little bit unique from an SEC style standpoint.”
Kentucky’s rotation, however, is one of the best in the conference. The Wildcats have two frontline starters in Ben Cleaver (5-2, 3.02 ERA in 59 ⅔ IP) and Nic McMay (4-0, 3.42 ERA in 52 ⅔ IP), while Nate Harris (4-2, 3.67 ERA in 41 ⅔ IP) is not far behind. But if the Bulldogs can get into Kentucky’s bullpen, they might find things a little bit easier.
MSU (26-19, 7-14) checks in at No. 43 in the latest RPI, with the Wildcats at No. 29. A series win is a must for the Bulldogs to maintain any chance of reaching their second straight NCAA Tournament, because even if their RPI improves, some selection committee members may not be able to look past their poor conference record.
“The bottom line is we’re in the position that we’re in because of a lot of what we’ve done,” Parker said. “We have to play good baseball in all three phases. We have to pitch, throw strikes, we have to defend at a high level, we have to play smart, we have to hit and do all those things at the same time.”
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