The Mississippi State baseball team began their series against the Alabama Crimson Tide with a win Thursday night, with 6890 fans coming out to watch the Bulldogs take game one 6-5. The Alabama series comes two days after a non conference 5-2 road loss against South Alabama on Tuesday night, which dropped the Bulldogs to 25-14.
Mississippi State showed the quality of their offensive options for the team, because first baseman Brent Rooker in particular—have been closed off by opposing teams as the first baseman has flourished in the past four SEC series.
Averaging .423 before the Alabama series, Opposing teams have began intentionally walking first baseman Brent Rooker, a three-time SEC Player of the Week. Averaging .423 before the Alabama series, the Crimson Tide followed suit and walked Rooker. This allowed the Bulldogs to showcase their other offensive players and forces the team to stay on their toes.
 Coming behind Rooker in the batting lineup, shortstop Ryan Gridley said he understands the mentality behind the other teams’ walking tactic, and said the tactic ultimately gives him confidence to step up for Mississippi State.
 “I know it’s coming most of the time,” Gridley said. “They’re going to want to face me, and it just gives me a chance to show what I can do. It fires me up.”
Gridley finished the game with two hits. Gridley said the team’s diverse offensive success has added other weapons to the team’s arsenal, because even the back of the batting lineup has been able to develope an offensive rhythm.
“I’m looking at (Josh) Lovelady, and he looks like he’s confident up there, or we get Tanner (Poole) up there,” Gridley said. “Every day it’s somebody else, so it’s awesome.”
The Bulldogs’ were most successful in the fifth inning, starting the top of the sixth up 6-3. Four players tied with one rbi, successfully sharing the hits across the board for Mississippi State.
Tanner Poole collected team-high 3 out of the 9 hits of the day.
The Bulldogs also capitalized on many of the Crimson Tide’s errors in the fifth inning, when they collected 3 runs to win game one. Cannizzaro said he feels optimistic about the team’s group performance.
“The biggest thing is that you need to have as many weapons in your lineup as possible to help you win games in the SEC,” Coach Cannizzaro said. “For the first half of the year, we’ve been so top heavy. I just love the fact that everybody else is getting better and better as well.”
The Crimson Tide responded well to the Bulldogs’ offensive pressure, with eight hits and four rbis. Mississippi State’s starting pitcher Konnor Pilkington had an off day on the mound. Pilkington said he hopes to look to do better in upcoming games.
“I try to keep the ball in the zone, and I felt like I didn’t do a good job of that,” Pilkington said.
Pilkington pitched 5.2 innings. He allowed five runs, four earned, and completed five strikeouts for game one.
Spencer Price made his 14th save on the season.
Mississippi State has moved to 25-14 in the season and 11-5 in the conference. They currently stand in a three-way tie at second place. April 21 at 4 p.m., the Diamond Dawgs will begin a doubleheader intended to avoid bad weather on Saturday.