Justin Parker and Hunter Hines discuss Mississippi State's difficult night of baseball

After putting together a complete effort in the first game of the Tallahassee Regional on Friday night, the exact opposite happened for Mississippi State on Saturday.

Florida State dominated every facet of the game and beat down the Bulldogs 10-3. The loss moved the Bulldogs into the loser’s bracket and sets up a win or go home scenario for the next two games.

After the loss, interim head coach Justin Parker and senior first baseman Hunter Hines spoke to the media about the tough day at the ballpark.

JP: “They controlled every aspect of the game. One of the best starters in all of college baseball. Tons of lefthanded power and they capitalized on some mistakes. We didn’t control many counts, and they controlled all the counts both sides. That’s basically the outcome of the game.”

Q: Walks were a serious issue in the game for the pitching staff today, what was the problem?

JP: “I think a little bit of everything. When you have that many, some of it was scattered, some of it was credit to them and their offense and some of it was pitching around some guys. It was a clutch of everything. I tip my count to their offense for their approach. They’re adjustable. Anytime you have that kind of power, guys tend to nibble a little bit and I saw some of that. When they had our backs against the wall, they got the big hit there with the grand slam which kind of crippled us. It was a little bit of everything.”

Q: What did you see from the offense that led to your struggles?

JP: “I think a lot of it is you have Jamie Arnold. He was commanding the slider for strikes, throwing the slider for chase and pretty much throwing any pitch in any count. It’s one of those things where everybody is thinking, ‘well why don’t you just sit on it?’ It’s still a tough pitch to hit. It’s a pitch that is going to have him going in the first round for a reason.

“I thought we did some decent things in spurts. I would have liked to have elevated the pitch count and get him out earlier. The kid is a warrior and pitches better late in games. He just had our number tonight.”

Q: Hunter, Arnold is especially tough against lefties but you had success against him. What did you see that allowed you to have some success?

HH: “He just threw me a couple of good pitches to hit. With a guy like that, he doesn’t do that often. Luckily, I did have success against him.”

Q: Justin, what did you think went wrong for Pico today?

JP: “Command mostly. He didn’t have feel for a (changeup) so it kind of boxed him in to being a two-pitch guy. He didn’t control enough counts, the free bases. I thought he made some big pitches to get him close to getting out of that jam in the fourth he just came up a little short. The home run was the big crippler.

“He’s a warrior and has been our guy all year. Probably a little less than his best but he’s our heartbeat as a staff anyway. I thought he battled.”

Q: Hunter you’ve got to win two games tomorrow to extend your career. What’s your mindset?

HH: “It doesn’t change anything. We’ve still got to go out there and play our best to win. We’ve got our backs against the wall and it’s been like that the whole year. We’ve just got to simplify, go out there and play the best that we can.”

Q: Do you have an update on whether or not Sawyer Reeves can be available tomorrow?

JP: “No update. Just day-to-day. Dealing with some muscular stuff so just depends on how he feels when he wakes up.”

Q: We’ve talked a lot the last couple of weeks about Pico and how he’s feeling. What have you seen from him the last week or so?

JP: “The main emphasis the last few days has been more rest than anything so I haven’t seen much of the work. I actually thought, looking at his delivery and high-end stuff, he was probably a little better than he’s been recently. Just the command fell apart on him and he didn’t make enough pitches through the order and they made him pay.”

Q: You talked so much about playing complimentary baseball. How can you do that the next game?

JP: “It’s got to start on the mound. We’ve got to throw more strikes. In the flow of the game, I felt like Arnold was pitching in fast forward. He had such great rhythm and such great tempo, and our halves were almost in slow motion. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to make more pitches; we’ve got to command the ball at a much higher level. Hopefully, the complimentary aspect picks up from there.”

Q: What are your pitching plans for tomorrow?

JP: “Don’t quote me on this but I plan on starting (Evan) Siary and it’s all hands on deck from there.”

Q: How tough is the Florida State lineup’s depth?

JP: “Super aggressive. Dangerous. They’re really well-protected – there’s not a lot of guys that struggle left-on-left or right-on-right. It’s a lineup that’s really well-coached and very physical. Dynamic there in some ways there too where they gave us some issues on the bases, and added something different to the game. It’s just the length, the depth, the physicality, the danger. It’s a really good lineup.”

Q: What do you think about your bullpen heading into day three?

JP: “I’ve got to do inventory tomorrow. I think there will be some guys that are able to bounce back. I was trying to get three more outs out of Dane (Burns). We felt like he could come back tomorrow. (Ryan) McPherson, I think there’s a chance for him to get three outs tomorrow. We haven’t used several others and we have Siary and (Karson) Ligon. We’re just trying to win the first inning tomorrow and there isn’t a game two if we don’t win the first one so that will be our focus.”