OMAHA, Neb. — Two home runs, an inconsistent bullpen and a lacking offense doomed Mississippi State baseball from the start of Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to No. 2 seed Vanderbilt in its second game of the College World Series.
“I mean, that was a tough one to swallow, but it is what it is, and we’ve got to go home tonight and turn the page quick,” senior outfielder Jake Mangum said.
With the loss, MSU (52-14) will now take on No. 7 seed Louisville in an elimination game at 7 tonight.
For the first four innings, the Mississippi State defense bent, but didn’t break.
In the first, senior starter Peyton Plumlee allowed back-to-back singles to Austin Martin and JJ Bleday. A 6-4-3 double play and a swinging strikeout of Philip Clarke ended that threat.
A Stephen Scott solo home run then marred an otherwise simple second inning for Plumlee.
The fourth inning brought another Vanderbilt threat as Clarke singled and Pete DeMarco moved him to third with a double on the ensuing at-bat.
Vanderbilt (56-11) finally cracked the MSU code in the fifth.
Bleday chased Plumlee with an RBI double to the right-center gap.
Redshirt junior relief pitcher Trysten Barlow quickly aided the Commodores once more, allowing a single and a walk to the only two batters he faced.
MSU had its chance to escape the frame with no further damage as sophomore Tanner Allen fielded a hard-hit grounder at first base and threw it to sophomore shortstop Jordan Westburg at second for a force out. But when Westburg went to throw the ball to first for an inning-ending double play, no one had covered first base and he had to hold the ball.
Scott made the Bulldogs pay for the miscue on the next pitch, clocking the back of right field bullpen for a three-run homer to extend the Vanderbilt lead to 6-0.
“We didn’t manage the fifth,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. “The fifth is what gets us a little bit. But you’ve got to credit their players, and Stephen Scott, he hit a couple balls that changed the game.”
Though Barlow’s and Self’s outings were suspect, redshirt junior Keegan James was stellar in his 3 2/3 innings of work. James allowed just one hit and struck out three in his first appearance since May 22 against LSU in the SEC tournament.
“When Coach calls your name, you’ve got to be ready,” he said. “I’ve been putting in a lot of work the past couple weeks. Had a really good feel for all three of my pitches for the majority of the game today, and I just was confident. That’s all it was.”
Mimicking the MSU middle-relievers, the Bulldog offense was similarly lousy in the early going Wednesday.
For the second-straight game, MSU struggled plating runners. In all, the Bulldogs left nine men on base and finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Further, the Bulldogs were an abysmal 2-19 with runners aboard.
MSU has now stranded 20 base runners in its two games at the College World Series.
“No not really,” Lemonis said of whether he’s seeing anything in MSU’s approach at the plate he wants quashed. “I didn’t like Kumar Rocker and Tyler Brown, that’s really more of it. (Raby) comes in and we have success. We’ve just faced some good arms here.”
The Bulldogs’ bats did show some life in the later stages of the contest.
Sophomore Rowdey Jordan sparked an inspired comeback attempt with an RBI single through the left side of the infield in the sixth inning.
Senior Marshall Gilbert, Sunday night’s walk-off hero, then sent a home run over the left field wall to open the seventh.
“I think just keeping (my swing) short, taking my knob to the baseball and just picking out good pitches to hit,” Gilbert said of what is working for him at the plate.
Allen added the final MSU run of the day with an RBI-double to left-center field to score senior Mangum from second.
The Bulldogs will turn to freshman JT Ginn for the start against Louisville. Ginn is 8-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 16 appearances this season. Ginn has not pitched since he left the Starkville Regional opener against Southern with arm soreness.
“We’ve got a really good team (today) that we’ve got to play against and it’s going to be another great college baseball game in Omaha,” Mangum said. “Got to be ready to go.”
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DAWG NOTES
Lemonis said postgame Tuesday that if MSU reaches the semifinal round against Vanderbilt Friday, redshirt junior ace Ethan Small will not pitch.
Small pitched five innings of three-hit ball against Auburn Sunday but threw 102 pitches in the effort. He has surpassed 100 pitches in three of his past four starts.
He was a first-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the Major League Baseball draft June 3.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting Ethan back out there on Friday,” Lemonis said. “Not with the career he has out there.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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