Despite losing Sunday, the Mississippi State University Bulldogs seem to have figured out how to return to their winning ways.
The Bulldogs entered the past weekend dropping their last three SEC series and sitting as one of the worst teams in the SEC. It was 3-6 in the SEC play before the weekend started. After winning the weekend series against South Carolina, the Bulldogs have moved in to third place the SEC standings. 
The weekend series started off well for the Diamond Dogs as the bats finally came alive. The Bulldogs recorded 12 hits and managed to achieve a victory of 13-2 against the Gamecocks.
“Lucas really put our club on his back,” Head Coach John Cohen said.
Lucas Laster was on the mound for the Bulldogs on Thursday night. He managed to pitch a complete game and record 8 strikeouts. John Holland had another outstanding game and provided most of the offense for the Bulldogs. He went (3-5) with a game high four RBIs.
“I think everyone is a little bit more comfortable with their swings right now,” Cohen said.
MSU erupted on the Gamecocks in the third inning, and managed to get six runs on the board. Jake Vickerson also had a good game going 2 for 3 with one RBI. 
“This is what kind of club we need to be,” Cohen said.
The Bulldogs continued their winning ways on Friday against the Gamecocks by winning 7-5. Preston Brown got the win for the Bulldogs. Brown allowed ten hits and gave up five earned runs.
“Obviously Preston did a great job today. I thought he forced them to force the bat, and it’s amazing how the game works when you throw strikes,” Cohen said.
Jake Vickerson had a good game at the plate on Friday, recording three hits and two RBIs. Vickerson improved his batting average to .320 for the season. He has 15 RBIs on the season.
“We have really swung the bats well in this series,” Cohen said. “We had 14 hits today and had some really good at-bats. We have been waiting for the balls to fall in and the breaks to go our way. Our guys have done a great job of making some breaks this weekend.”
The Bulldogs struggled at the plate throughout conference play. Last week MSU went 29 innings without pushing a run past the plate. Over the weekend series, the Bulldogs scored 27 runs.
“We are a lot more aggressive at the plate. We are assuming each pitch is gonna be a strike,” Cohen said.
The Bulldogs ended the weekend series with a 13-7 loss against the Gamecocks on Sunday. 
“The hardest balls we hit were right at people,” Cohen said. “We just didn’t pitch the way we wanted to.”
Vance Tatum received the loss for the Bulldogs going for 1.1 innings and giving up four earned runs. Despite the loss and poor pitching, the Bulldogs still managed to rack up 10 hits. 
The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow against the University of Memphis.  
Memphis enters the game with a 4-2 conference record. The game will be played in the Triple-A stadium Autozone Park, home to the Memphis Redbirds.
This weekend MSU will face Texas A&M. The Aggies enter the matchup with a 9-2 conference record. Friday’s game begins at 6:30 p.m. at Blue Bell Park in College Station.