Diamond Dawgs ready to get back to work after frustrating SEC Tournament appearance

Wednesday was an all-too familiar feeling for Mississippi State fans.

The Diamond Dawgs went to Hoover, Ala., and laid another egg inside the SEC Tournament in what has become a common theme for State over the last several years. Last season netted some positive results as the Bulldogs won the first two games before bowing out with consecutive losses, but Chris Lemonis’ teams have not had much success at the event.

After dropping a 9-0 beatdown to the Texas A&M Aggies, State fell to 3-7 in the tournament since 2019. Of those seven losses, four of them have been by nine or more runs and three run-rule defeats. It left the fanbase and the team frustrated leaving the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium once again.

“We still have our best ball ahead of us, luckily,” senior Noah Sullivan said. “It’s frustrating because we played really good the past three weeks to a month. But we get back to it, back to practice once we get back. It sucks we ended this so shortly because everybody says it’s so much fun. Didn’t get to experience that. But we just came out super flat and didn’t play well enough.

The Diamond Dawgs went back to their old ways on Wednesday and put together a losing formula that has cost them many games this year. It started on the defensive end where State had two defensive miscues in the second inning that opened the door for the blowout.

Right fielder Reed Stallman had a fly ball to him that would be dropped as he backpedaled and stumbled for a leadoff double. A grounder to Gatlin Sanders was booted after that and then things fell apart. Ryan McPherson had to throw over 40 pitches that inning and recorded just one out as the Aggies poured on six runs and State never recovered.

Interim coach Justin Parker has helped the Bulldogs to a 9-2 record since taking over the program for the time being after Lemonis’ firing last month. During that time, the Bulldogs have strengthened their defensive efforts and the offense has been electric, but those two things were missing on Wednesday.

“We’ve just got to get back to work. Really, we’ve got to prepare and get back to work, and probably the front end of this week looks like taking a day or two off, just let everyone catch their breath, rest up, heal any injuries,” Parker said. “We’re starting to get some guys back healthy on the mount. I thought Dane Burns and Charlie Foster were really bright spots (Wednesday). Catch our breath early in the week and then get back to work this weekend.”

State has added help in the bullpen for postseason

Burns and Foster were certainly bright spots in the otherwise gloomy game. Both are talented lefties that could factor into the postseason.

Foster especially could be a secret weapon for State. After showing promise in the first month of the season with three appearances, Foster has missed two months of action but is back. Against Missouri and A&M, Foster threw 2.0 scoreless innings with just one hit surrendered and five strikeouts.

“Well, you have another left-hander with a ride fastball, which is huge, especially facing a lineup like we faced (vs. A&M),” Parker said of Foster. “I thought he was much more comfortable today than he was probably last Saturday. That’s just going to come with time, getting him out there, getting him experienced.”

As frustrating as the trip to Hoover was for the Bulldogs, the bottom line is that it isn’t always a sign of distress for the program.

Wednesday marked the sixth time in school history that State has gone to the tournament and failed to win a game. In the previous five situations, the Bulldogs went to at least a Super Regional two weeks later with three trips to the College World Series. That includes a National Title in 2021 and 2018’s improbable run to Omaha.

State will need to play better baseball when their selection is set on Monday afternoon, but Parker and his team are not worried about what’s ahead.

“I’m not concerned. It’s the game of baseball we’ve played great for a month. We’ve been unbelievable early in games offensively. We’ve scored in the first inning for what seems like two to three weeks straight,” Parker said.

“We’ll get back home, we’ll recommit to the weight room, take these next couple of days off and try to catch our breath and then just continue to prepare and move forward.”