PEARL — Mississippi State University baseball coach John Cohen said his team needed to make it easier to manufacture runs.
It can’t get much easier than hitting the ball over the fence.
That’s the strategy junior catcher Mitch Slauter used Tuesday night to help MSU beat Southern Mississippi 5-0 at Trustmark Park.
“Squared it up and got it in the air,” Slauter said. “That’s it. Didn’t take that much.”
MSU (25-16) also received a home run from redshirt freshman outfielder Hunter Renfroe for its third multi-homer game of the season. The outburst came in a spacious Double-A professional ballpark on an evening in which the Bulldogs earned an important win for its Ratings Percentage Index against the Golden Eagles (23-17). The RPI is a factor used by the NCAA tournament selection committee to consider at-large teams to the postseason field.
“Scoring runs when it matters is the name of this game,” Slauter said. “We were just adjusting to a umpire’s zone and kept our approach throughout the game.”
MSU had only five hits, but it proved to be more than enough as three pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout.
“The wind was more favorable tonight,” MSU coach John Cohen said “It is not just our yard or this yard, home runs are down everywhere. However, you feel something good when you see the ball leave the bat and it leaves the yard.”
Slauter gave MSU a 3-0 lead with his shot to left field off reliever Jay Myrick. He acted like his rocket to left field wasn’t a big deal, even though the junior went 1-for-15 last weekend in a sweep against the University of Tennessee.
Renfroe, who in the preseason was rated by several publications as one of the top prospects in the Southeastern Conference, took a fastball from Myrick deep over the left-field wall for a two-run shot to make it 5-0 in the fifth inning.
“It was a line drive shot, but there was no doubt it was gone,” Renfroe said. “I got a two-strike approach and thought I’d just try to get there early on a fastball. My style is just to pull the ball and hit it as hard as I can.”
Renfroe has struggled at the plate this month and had just three extra-base hits and numerous infield popups prior to Tuesday night.
“Especially compared to our ballpark, this yard is very exciting,” Cohen said. “It is such a relief to see a ball disappear out of the ballpark off of our bat. When you see that, it makes you feel like things are going your way.”
In his first pitching appearance in 10 days, senior left-hander Nick Routt (2-4) tossed three shutout innings in relief to earn his first victory since March 3 against the University of Connecticut. Routt, who had struggled elevating his changeup in month-long slump that saw him lose his spot in the starting rotation, got four groundball out, including a beautifully turned 1-6-3 double play ball with two runners on in the fifth.
“I was turning anyways to get to the baseball and Mitch did a great job of yelling, ‘Two, two two,’ so I turned the ball and fired to second base so they turned a nice double play,” Routt said. “You can’t pitch a shutout without solid defense, and that happened for us tonight.”
MSU has defeated USM four straight games, including twice in Trustmark Park and a 3-0 victory in the 2011 Atlanta Regional opener.
“We missed on opportunities early in the game,” USM coach Scott Berry said. “Between that and walks, they took advantage.”
MSU received another solid outing from freshman right-hander Brandon Woodruff. The highly touted prospect from Wheeler scattered four hits in the first four innings. He struck out four in a 63-pitch effort.
Woodruff has a 1.08 ERA against non-SEC opponents this season (two runs in 16 2/3 innings). His effort made up for some harsh luck last week in Trustmark Park when the University of Mississippi roughed him up with several hits in front of outfielders.
MSU will return home for a Southeastern Conference series against Ole Miss this weekend. The teams will meet at 7 p.m. Friday, at 2 p.m. Saturday, and at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
“We have to take two out of three from them if we want to think about going to a regional or anything like that,” Renfroe said. “That series is critical to us, and we all know it.”
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