Second inning meltdown has State one and done in the SEC Tournament
HOOVER, Ala. – Mississippi State has been playing inspired baseball for the last three weeks and it has very likely gotten the Diamond Dawgs in the NCAA Tournament.
As good as State has played in recent weeks, the Bulldogs laid an egg in Wednesday morning’s first round SEC Tournament game. After having its game with Texas A&M postponed from Tuesday night, it was an early morning for the Bulldogs and Aggies and State was still asleep in what became a 9-0 loss.
A second inning meltdown from the Bulldog defense and on the mound would do the trick as State had two defensive miscues open the floodgates. Reed Stallman fell down backpedaling on a flyball to start the inning and Gatlin Sanders had an error to the next batter.
After already getting a couple of runs across, A&M would unload on Ryan McPherson with a grand slam from Jace LaViolette to break the game open and give the Aggies a 6-0 lead. It was a rough outing for the freshman RHP McPherson but the defense let him down in an inning that should have been routine.
“I think Reed got lost on the warning track and lost his footing. Leadoff outs are so important and the inning could go a completely different way,” coach Justin Parker said. “We didn’t make enough pitches there in the middle of it. I think Gatlin makes that play to his left dozens of times this year, so, I don’t know that it’s anything fundamental. His feet got tangled and they get runners and we didn’t handle it.”
Bulldogs struggled in all three phases
McPherson threw 1.2 innings, gave up five hits, six runs, two walks, a hit batter and struck out three. The pitchers behind him helped limit the Aggies with Ben Davis, Dane Burns and Luke Dotson surrendering three runs and two walks in the final 7.1 innings.
Bulldog hitters didn’t do much to provide any resistance to the Aggies. State had six hits as a team and left eight runners stranded in defeat. A red-hot offense entering the tournament, State was 1-for-16 with runners on base, 0-for-8 with two outs and 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
A&M ace pitcher Ryan Prager went 5.1 innings, gave up just four hits, no runs and two walks while striking out six. Behind him three pitchers held State scoreless with just two hits and a walk against them.
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“I really did think, once they got the six-run lead, I thought Prager really did a nice job settling in and I’m not sure he missed a spot after the second. He made it really tough,” Parker said. “The guy is a veteran pitcher in our league. He might have been the best pitcher in our league last year and you’ve got to tip your cap to that type of performance.”
The meat of the order did some good things for the Bulldogs a Ace Reese and Noah Sullivan each had two hits. The two-hit day from Reese extended his hitting streak to 22 games while putting together five-straight outings with multiple hits. Reese is now batting .371 on the season with 78 hits and 21 home runs which are all second in the SEC.
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The loss was a disappointing one for the Bulldogs after the last three weeks, but the team has to regroup for postseason. State (34-21) will await its selection in the NCAA Tournament coming next Monday.
“We still have our best ball ahead of us, luckily,” 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.
“We’re excited. It sucks that we ended this so shortly because everybody says it’s so much fun. We just came out super flat and didn’t play well enough.”
