HOOVER, Ala. — Mississippi State is choosing a most opportune time to solidify starting pitching.
The semblance of answers for the rotation had MSU baseball coach Andy Cannizaro confident for the future in the face of elimination from the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament. The confidence stems from starting pitching success — even if ultimately undone by the bullpen behind it — as MSU looks forward to the NCAA Tournament.
Unlikely to host a regional, the 36-24 Bulldogs find out where they will go Monday morning. With the performances of the SEC Tournament fresh in his mind, Cannizaro is ready to take his starting pitching anywhere.
“We’ve got six guys that we feel really good about going into the NCAA Tournament and those are the six guys that are going to get the ball,” Cannizaro said. “Without mentioning names, I think everyone knows who we’re talking about, those are the guys that are going to get the ball with the season on the line.”
That group of six begins the four starters used last week.
The first is no surprise: Konnor Pilkington. MSU’s season-long ace turned in one of his best performances of the season in the tournament debut against Georgia as he threw eight scoreless innings.
His five hits and two walks allowed stymied a Georgia lineup that beat MSU twice just two weeks ago.
The outing solidified Pilkington’s status as MSU’s ace as he now has a 3.13 earned run average (ERA) and 68 hits allowed in 95 innings pitched.
Behind him, as was the case in the final weeks of the regular season, is Denver McQuary. The turning point from question mark to confidence comes in the two pitchers behind them.
Cole Gordon’s start Friday afternoon was his best of the season, taking top-seeded Florida to the top of the eighth inning without a run. He was ultimately credited with a run allowed after his exit, ending his start with seven innings pitched, four hits and a career-high seven strikeouts.
The fourth starter comes in the form of Jacob Billingsley. His regular season finish was less than desirable — his last three starts going a combined 6 2/3 innings with seven hits and six runs allowed — but the turnaround that followed was sharp. Billingsley pitched five innings in MSU’s elimination game against Arkansas and allowed just three hits.
“We definitely made some steps in the right direction,” Billingsley said. “I had both two-seam and slider working well, both of them ended up being big pitches for me. Being able to command them both in whatever count I needed to. Getting ahead and getting those early contact outs is big early in the game.”
The resurgent starting pitching has even infused the lineup with a newfound confidence.
“We’ve got a corps set of arms we’re really confident in moving forward and we think they’ll get us wins in the regional,” first baseman Brent Rooker said.
Even without starting pitching, the simple results were enough to pick MSU up.
MSU’s first win of the tournament came against a Georgia team that beat the Bulldogs two times in three days two weeks ago. MSU’s second victory of the tournament came against Arkansas, which handed MSU three straight losses to start conference play.
“I thought there were some really good things,” Cannizaro said. “We feel really good about where we are as a team right now.”
Follow Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.