STARKVILLE — Luke Alexander wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but it was fun to watch.
He later found out what it was: a makeshift hockey game, played on the carpet of the Mississippi State baseball clubhouse with bats as sticks.
Such was the scene as MSU waited out a rain delay Saturday before the second game of the series against Tennessee. MSU coach Andy Cannizaro let them do as they please, and it worked: the Bulldogs set season highs in runs and hits in the 14-4 win that followed.
“It was good, they were able to stay loose. You could tell with the score they stayed focused, they were ready to play,” Cannizaro said. “I was really impressed with their effort tonight after that long delay.”
The game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m., but delayed to 6:30 p.m. after Friday night’s game in anticipation of the storm. When 6:30 p.m. came and the storm continued, the game was pushed back to its 8:02 start and nearly went until midnight as it lasted 3 hours, 33 minutes.
The starting pitcher for the night, Peyton Plumlee, used the hour for extra stretching and was thankful for it.
“That extra hour and a half helped me a little bit,” he said.
Alexander’s finger smashed
Alexander exited Saturday’s game in the bottom of the third, being pinch hit for after moving from third base to second base in the top of the frame.
The position switch was in hopes of keeping him in the game, after taking a 93 mph fastball to his right ring finger, hoping he could still make the shorter throw from second to first with just two fingers gripping the ball. Then came the realization he couldn’t grip the bat.
“It swole up pretty good. They were actually able to drill a hole in the fingernail to relieve a lot of the blood and swelling and pressure in there,” Cannizaro said. “It was certainly pretty painful, but he was feeling much better after that.”
Alexander played Sunday’s game with his right ring finger and right pinky taped together, with some of the discoloration lingering around his fingernail still visible, leaving him just his index finger and middle finger to grip the ball when playing second base. He said it was throbbing postgame and will get X-rays Monday to make sure it’s not broken.
McQuary up to bat
Denver McQuary was a multisport standout at Houston High School in Chickasaw County, but specialized as a pitcher quickly and did so rather successfully, pitching 13 innings as one of just eight on the roster to have a sub-5.00 earned run average.
Saturday showed the specialization hasn’t gotten to him yet.
He took his first at-bat of his MSU career as a pinch hitter for Harrison Bragg, fouling off the first two pitches before striking out to end the inning.
Once he got in the box, he impressed the seasoned hitters looking on.
“He hasn’t seen a pitch, he hasn’t been hitting and that guy takes an inside fastball and drives it foul,” said center fielder Jake Mangum, the SEC’s reigning batting champion. “He’s just an athlete.”
He followed that up by playing the final two innings of the game in Bragg’s place in the field at third base.
“He hasn’t done the defensive thing since the fall,” Cannizaro said, “but there was no hesitation.”
Rigby’s miracle
Relief pitcher Ryan Rigby’s fleeting availability throughout the season has been a subject of constant question, and one that Cannizaro hasn’t always had the answer to. Rigby’s injury has been fickle and confounding in nature, to the point where he would feel good to pitch on one day then have trouble walking the next.
The same holds in his return.
Cannizaro said on Thursday that Rigby would be unavailable for the weekend — then he pitched 2/3 of an inning, striking out both batters he faced, in a surprise appearance on Saturday.
In a moment of complete sincerity, when asked what changed to make Rigby able to pitch, Cannizaro said, “I have no clue.”
Bartlett returns to Starkville
Former Starkville High baseball player Max Bartlett made his return to town as a Volunteer, starting all three games at shortstop.
Bartlett notched two hits in his nine at-bats and scored a run. After the weekend, Bartlett was hitting .333 (10-30) with two doubles and five RBIs with a .459 on-base percentage.
Bartlett, a senior, spent two seasons at Gulf Coast State College and was drafted in the 34th round of the MLB Draft before choosing Tennessee.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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