Inconsistent, weak hitting and failures to come through in the clutch led the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team to a 2-2 record this weekend.
Friday, the Iowa Hawkeyes scored first and survived a furious late rally to defeat the Bulldogs 5-3. The Bulldogs lost an opportunity in the fourth when Jonathan Ogden was thrown out at the plate in a controversial play. Cohen was ejected for arguing the call and, despite later loading the bases, the Bulldogs only scored one more run that inning. The Bulldogs squandered another opportunity in the fifth as Cody Freeman was thrown out trying to stretch an RBI double into a triple.
Iowa added runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings thanks to timely singles, walks and wild pitches and took a 5-2 lead into the ninth, when Nick Vickerson scored on a Jarrod Parks single to narrow the deficit to 5-3. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Daryl Norris and Ryan Collins both struck out with the bases loaded to end the game.
The game was interrupted for over two hours in the fifth inning for a rain delay. Cohen said the team failed to play with the same intensity after the game resumed.
“We weren’t focused after the rain delay,” Cohen said. “We just didn’t have good at-bats.”
Devin Jones, who gave up four hits, two walks and two runs in the 4.1 innings before the rain daily, picked up the loss, dropping him to 1-2 on the season.
The Bulldogs played more efficiently Saturday, demolishing the Georgia State Panthers 8-1 despite only one extra-base hit.
Chris Stratton pitched yet another gem, improving 3-0 while giving up two hits, five walks and one run in 6.2 innings of work. Caleb Reed closed out with 2.1 perfect innings for his third save of the year.
C.T. Bradford picked up three RBIs on a pair of singles in the third and fourth, and a Cody Freeman single sent in two more runs in the sixth. The Bulldogs took advantage of three Panther errors in the seventh to bring the score to 8-1.
Georgia State’s lone run came in the fifth, when Brandon Williams singled and later rounded the bases after a wild pitch and a pair of groundouts.
That evening, the Hawkeyes jumped all over Bulldog starter Tim Statz early and withstood another late rally to defeat the Bulldogs 7-6. Statz, who dropped to 0-1, allowed five hits and four runs in 2.0 innings of work.
The Bulldog offense utilized small ball over the last four innings to narrow the score, scoring on six separate RBI singles. However, with two runners on, Jaron Shepherd struck out looking to end the game.
Rather than dwell on the tough losses, catcher Wes Thigpen commended the team’s fight to come back in the games against Iowa.
“We had a couple of tough losses on the weekend, but we never quit. We always gave ourselves a chance to win,” Thigpen said.
Sunday, the trend of small ball continued as the Bulldogs defeated Georgia State 7-3. The Bulldogs hit no extra-base hits but scored on three RBI singles, two groundouts, a sacrifice fly and a bizarre play in which Shepherd was caught in a run down on a pickoff attempt, giving Freeman enough time to cross the plate.
Evan Mitchell, who improved to 3-0, allowed two runs and struck out seven in 5.1 innings. He allowed six hits and two walks, but his moment of glory came in the second, when he faced Mark Micowski with a full count and the bases loaded. In a move both Cohen and Thigpen referred to as “gutsy,” Mitchell hung a breaking ball in the zone.
“For a freshman to have the guts to do that, 3-2, and have the confidence to throw it in the zone […] he did very well,” Thigpen said.
Cohen said it would be very difficult at this point to deny Mitchell the third spot in the rotation once SEC play starts, even though a Jones/Stratton/Mitchell rotation would have three right-handers.
The Bulldogs will be back in action today, facing the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils at 4 p.m. at Dudy Noble Field.
    Junior Nick Routt will start for the Bulldogs in his first outing of the year. Routt led the Bulldogs in ERA and innings pitched in 2009 but missed most of last season with an arm injury.