STARKVILLE — Pitching to Mississippi State outfielder Brent Rooker was no longer a feasible option. His last 10 at-bats featured eight hits, 14 RBIs, three doubles and three home runs, forcing Indiana State to intentionally walk him.
Second baseman Cody Brown came right behind him and hit a three-run home run.
That was the offensive outburst MSU presented in its Saturday twinbill — one in which almost everyone got involved — in beating Marist 12-4 and Indiana State 9-1. MSU’s bats have been hot all weekend, as Saturday’s game came after an 11-6 win on Friday over Indiana State.
“Up and down the lineup, you have guys that are threats to hit the ball out of the park or hit a double at any time,” shortstop Ryan Gridley said. “It’s pretty fun right now.”
Gridley was part of the top four in the lineup that were particularly hot on Saturday: in the Saturday games, center fielder Jake Mangum, infielder Luke Alexander, Gridley and Rooker combined for 20 hits, five of them for extra bases, and 13 RBIs.
Rooker is in the midst of the best weekend of his career: on Friday, Rooker went 4 for 4 with eight RBIs, then went 4 for 4 against Marist on Saturday with six more RBIs. Rooker cooled in Saturday’s second game, striking out twice but reaching base once on the intentional walk.
“I think the biggest thing we do is try to never give away an at-bat,” MSU coach Andy Cannizaro said. “We continue to press forward at all times, we want to stay aggressive, we want to put pressure on the defense.”
All of these exploits are coming without the team’s leader in batting average entering the weekend, second baseman Hunter Stovall, who has missed all three games of the weekend with a hamstring injury. Alexander moved from his original third base spot to second in the first two games, with catcher Dustin Skelton taking over at third, and Brown played second in Saturday’s second game.
Those bats have been in support of sharply improved starting pitching throughout the weekend. Saturday’s starters were a pair of underclassmen, freshman Graham Ashcraft against Marist and sophomore Peyton Plumlee against Indiana State, and both of them registered wins.
Ashcraft started the day with a five-inning, four-hit performance in which he struck out four and allowed three runs, only two of them earned. Ashcraft’s final three innings were dominant, at one point retiring eight consecutive batters faced before a one-out single in the fifth inning; Ashcraft struck out the next two batters to end both the inning and his start.
“I think it’s a progression for him to continue to build that pitch count,” Cannizaro said of Ashcraft. “He’s got such real arm talent. We want to continue to develop Graham and all of his secondary pitches.”
After 1 1/3 innings from Jacob Barton, Cole Gordon and Spencer Price combined for 2 2/3 innings of hitless relief to get MSU to the end of that victory over Marist.
Against Indiana State, Plumlee threw an eerily similar gem to the one Konnor Pilkington threw in Friday night’s win: eight innings of shutout baseball with four hits allowed, striking out five and walking two. Plumlee said he had some tightness in his forearm early in the start, but that it eventually subsided and he settled in.
“Just a steady mix of pitches,” Plumlee said. “I knew coming into tonight I wouldn’t be able to beat this team with mostly fastballs, so I made sure I incorporated the breaking ball early in the game, made sure they know I had it, then later in the game I incorporated the changeup and that was big for me.”
Gridley’s favorite aspect of Plumlee’s start was his command, throwing 62 strikes in 91 pitches.
“It’s really good when you have a doubleheader to have a guy that throws a lot of strikes, because then we’re not on our feet as much and we can relax in the dugout,” he said.
Gridley was the star at the plate against Indiana State, tallying three singles, two of them driving in a run each, and a solo home run.
Pilkington’s Friday night win was eight scoreless innings with four hits and no walks allowed to go with six strikeouts. MSU finishes the weekend with a final meeting with Marist scheduled to start at 1 p.m.; Ryan Cyr is scheduled to start on the mound for the Bulldogs.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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