After the opening weekend where the starting pitching was a huge disappointment, the starting pitchers really toed the rubber and decided to show doubters what they could do this past weekend.
In complete domination Mississippi State University went 4-0 on the weekend, beating Nicholls State twice and UMass Lowell twice. They only allowed four total runs the entire weekend, two in the game Friday and two in the later game of the doubleheader Saturday.
To begin the weekend, UMass and MSU played. MSU could not get much offense going with only Jack Kruger and Cody Brown getting hits, but their three hits a piece gave the Bulldogs an early lead and they kept the lead throughout the entire game. Dakota Hudson pitched lights out and set his career high in strikeouts with nine and led the team to a 4-2 victory.
In the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, the Bulldogs took on Nicholls State. Once again, the bats could not seem to catch fire. After a scoreless five innings, MSU mustered up two runs in the sixth inning and three in the eighth. MSU won that game 5-0.
The only offensive highlights were a two-run homerun by Ryan Gridley and a three -hit performance by Jacob Robson. Pitching wise was outstanding.
Austin Sexton, who is arguably MSU’s ace, came out and threw a complete game shutout. He only allowed three hits the entire game and struck out a career high 11 batters.
Against UMass Lowell that night, MSU wound up with the same score as the Friday night showdown. In the 4-2 victory, the offense was slow but opened up in the sixth and eighth innings as well. The pitching staff was not as dominant as the previous two games, but the four pitchers combined to only allow two runs but gave up 12 scattered hits.
In the finale of the weekend series, Mississippi State took on Nicholls State looking for a weekend sweep. They scored early, and bust open the game in the second inning. They slowed down, but gave Zac Houston and company a well enough lead that they did not need to score much more. In the eighth inning, MSU added two runs to give the Bulldogs a commanding 8-0 lead which held to the end.
Houston was in control early, only allowing three hits in six innings, earning his first career win and striking out his career high 10 strikeouts. Kale Breaux, Noah Hughes and Paul Young came in and pitched an inning a piece and none of them allowed a hit.
Head Coach John Cohen seemed to be happy with how the starting pitching performed this weekend and their improvement since last weekend.
“I’m just overall pleased with our starting pitching.That was something that was somewhat of a concern last weekend, and I thought all four of the guys went out and had a quality start,” Cohen said. “I know the relievers weren’t too pleased with their first performance and this was much better for them.”
Coach Cohen and Pitching Coach Wes Johnson had plenty to be happy about with the starting pitching. Over the course of the weekend, the starters each got one win a piece and overall pitched 26 2/3 innings, allowed zero runs, struck out 34 batters, and only allowed 13 hits. There is not much more you can ask for out of a starting pitching staff.
Houston was only one of the players that was very impressed with how the pitching rotation worked this weekend.
“I think we did amazing, especially coming off last weekend where we weren’t really where we wanted to be and I think we really turned it around this weekend and everybody went out and did what they needed to do for us to win,” Houston said. “All the starters are where we want be right now and you know next weekend we have a three game series, and whatever guys they put out there are going to compete and give this club a chance to win.”
With a game coming up against Alcorn State, the Bulldogs are looking forward to playing a good game with them and then moving on to the weekend series in Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Bulldogs will take on UCLA, USC and Oklahoma this upcoming weekend.
