PEARL — Jacob Billingsley couldn’t find the strike zone two weeks ago.
Pitching against Memphis on April 13, the Mississippi State right-hander threw four pitches to right-handed hitting Damo DeMatteo that landed in the left-handed batting box.
But Billingsley didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he gained confidence from outings against Louisiana-Monroe and LSU.
Billingsley rode that confidence Tuesday night, throwing 2 1/3 innings to pick up his first save and earn Most Valuable Player honors in No. 3 MSU’s 2-0 victory against No. 9 Ole Miss at Trustmark Park in the Governor’s Cup.
“Coach J’s (pitching coach Wes Johnson) got us working tough,” Billingsley said. “He gives us speeches every day about adversity. Everybody has adversity, and I just tried to come out here and get the job done.”
With MSU leading 2-0 in the seventh inning, Zac Houston fell behind Tate Blackman 2-0, so MSU coach John Cohen and Johnson decided to bring in Billingsley. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Senatobia native evened the count and then pushed it full. Billingsley then froze Blackman with a fastball on the outside corner to get out of the jam.
Billingsley, who allowed two hits, no walks, and struck out three, also worked out of trouble in the eighth. J.B. Woodman reached on a leadoff single. With one out, catcher Henri Lartigue blooped one to the right of the pitcher’s mound that Billingsley couldn’t catch bare-handed to put runners on first and second. But Billingsley retired former New Hope High School standout Will Golsan and Holt Perdzock on flyouts to end the threat. He pitched a perfect ninth to seal the first shutout for the Bulldogs (28-13-1) against the Rebels (31-11) in the Jackson area.
“He came in and just kept locating his breaking ball, and that made it very difficult on them,” Cohen said. “It’s hard to square up his breaking ball. He got some swings and misses on it.”
Last Wednesday, Billingsley allowed one hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings against the Warhawks. On Sunday, he threw 2/3 of an inning against the Tigers and didn’t allow a hit.
Bulldog starter Ryan Cyr lasted four innings and allowed four hits in a 51-pitch outing in his first start. He struck out one and struck out one. Coming in, the freshman right-hander hadn’t allowed a run in 12 innings, but Ole Miss was his first Southeastern Conference opponent.
“Everybody’s going to go through adversity, some more than others,” Cyr said. “For us to go through that early helps us for the long run.”
Cyr allowed back-to-back singles in the third, but used a 6-4-3 double play and a groundout to strand a runner at third. Ole Miss stranded 11 runners on base.
“I thought coming in Cyr was going to be rested, have good velocity, and create some good spin with the baseball early in the game and he did that,” Cohen said. “He got us off to a phenomenal start. I thought he showed a lot of maturity and really competed his heart out.”
Houston (3-0) pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed three hits and recorded two strikeouts to help MSU clinch a 3-1 record against Ole Miss. MSU took two out of three in Starkville in the conference series. Tuesday’s game didn’t count as a SEC game.
Cohen knew runs were going to be at a premium at Trustmark Park, the Double-AA home of the Mississippi Braves, so he put all his trust in a pitching staff that hasn’t allowed a run in 30-straight midweek innings (Ole Miss, Louisiana-Monroe, and Memphis).
“I thought we pitched to the strike zone,” Cohen said. “I thought we threw a ton of strikes, and I thought that was the key in the ballgame.”
Reid Humphreys had an RBI single in the first and Nathaniel Lowe had an RBI single in the third off starter Chad Smith (3-4). Humphreys, Lowe, and Jake Mangum had two hits.
Woodman and Lartigue had two hits for Ole Miss. Golsan was 0-for-3 with a walk.
MSU will face Alabama in a three-game SEC series that will begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (ESPNU) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Game 2 will be at 7 p.m. Friday. Game 3 will be at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Although road series are tough, MSU has overcome adversity to win series at Vanderbilt, Florida, and LSU.
“We’re going out there with a chip on our shoulder trying to beat everybody that comes up,” Billingsley said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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