STARKVILLE — Two general commonalities arose in the six consecutive Southeastern Conference baseball games Mississippi State won as it climbed to its position as No. 22 in Baseball America’s rankings: limiting stranded runners and limiting walks.
The Bulldogs (20-12, 6-4) did neither Friday night, resulting in both an uncharacteristic showing and a 5-2 loss to No. 13 Kentucky (22-9, 8-2).
In the six-straight conference wins leading up to Friday’s loss, MSU left more than seven runners on base just twice, but left six runners on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings alone on Friday. After averaging less than four walks per game in the winning streak, MSU walked nine Kentucky batters.
Walks and otherwise errant pitches, be it the four wild pitches or one hit batter, was MSU pitching’s only problem in coach Andy Cannizaro’s eyes. Kentucky entered the series leading the SEC in most notable offensive statistics including batting average, slugging, on-base percentage and doubles, yet was held to just three hits Friday.
“You look up there at the scoreboard in the eighth and ninth inning and they have two hits and two runs. That was the frustrating part is it’s hard to keep that team down like we did tonight, even though we walked so many times,” Cannizaro said. “It was just one of those nights where our guys didn’t necessarily command the baseball as well as they have. I don’t have any issues with how we pitched at all.”
Cannizaro’s sticking point was the offense — or lack thereof — in the late innings.
“I don’t think we should’ve lost that game,” left fielder Cody Brown said. “We had our opportunities — I had my opportunity to put us up two and didn’t get the job done. A lot of people can say it’s just baseball, but at the end of the day you have to get the job done when your number is called. I didn’t get the job done there, either.”
Brown’s opportunity to strike came in the eighth with the game tied at two and runners on second and third with one out. His popup to the shortstop and pinch hitter Elijah MacNamee’s ensuing strikeout kept the game knotted going to the final inning.
Brown’s near miss was the third of three straight such occurrences, beginning with the top of the order in the sixth. After Tanner Poole reached on an error and Hunter Stovall bunted him to second, Jake Mangum ended a seven-pitch at-bat with a looking strikeout. Kentucky intentionally walked Brent Rooker after Mangum, but Ryan Gridley hit into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.
In the next inning, with Josh Lovelady on third after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, Luke Alexander hit an infield popup and Stovall ended the inning with a groundout.
“Our quality of at-bat suffered there in those key situations, and we need to be better at that moving forward,” Cannizaro said. “Those at-bats lacked the poise it takes to get the job done.”
Cannizaro cited expanding the strike zone in those at-bats as one cause for the struggles, such as Alexander’s infield fly coming on a 2-0 pitch that was outside of the strike zone.
The missed opportunities bit MSU in the ninth inning, as Kentucky turned a 2-2 tie into the 5-2 final score on, among other things, three walks, two wild pitches and a passed ball.
“Anytime you play in the SEC on a Friday night, it’s going to be a game like that,” Brown said. “You have to capitalize on those. The quality of the arms they were running out there was good, but we have to capitalize on those.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter, @Brett_Hudson
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