The Bulldog Box Score and More: MSU Revives Itself in Rain Over Jacksonville State
With Jacksonville State in Starkville on Tuesday night playing Mississippi State, rain washed away the evening's final four innings of action. But before that, the No. 10 Bulldogs also used the precipitation to help wash away any lingering effects from this past weekend's series loss to Missouri.
On a soggy night at Dudy Noble Field, MSU rebounded from its Friday and Saturday losses to the team with the Southeastern Conference's worst record as the Bulldogs topped Jacksonville State 6-1 on Tuesday. The game was called after five innings due to the rainfall.
However before that, MSU made the most of the evening. Luke Hancock drove a two-run home run to right in the first and just like that, the Bulldogs were on their way to the victory. Rowdey Jordan added a two-run single in the second to help MSU extend its lead, and State got even more breathing room in the third on a sacrifice fly from Brad Cumbest and an RBI double from Lane Forsythe.
Meanwhile four MSU pitchers held Jacksonville State down. Parker Stinnett drew the start for the Bulldogs and navigated his way around four walks to hurl two shutout innings.
"We wanted Parker to get a chance to start his own innings," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said of Stinnett. "He’s been a starter most of his life. He’s got one of the better arms on our staff. It seems lately every time we put him out there, he’s got runners in scoring position. We just wanted to get him some work out there. His arm looked good. He needs more strikes but he was able to respond and get some outs. It was a tough situation as we got more rain. It was tougher and tougher to pitch. I was pleased with him."
With a four-run lead, Stinnett gave way to Jackson Fristoe in the third inning. The freshman right-hander who has served as State's No. 3 weekend starter for most of the season looked strong in relief as he hurled a perfect third with a strikeout.
Carlisle Koestler and Spencer Price combined to pitch the final two innings for MSU prior to the game getting called. Koestler surrendered the lone Jacksonville State run in the fourth, then got into trouble in the fifth with two on and two outs before Price entered to escape the jam.
And with that, the ballgame was over. It was only 4 1/2 innings. But it was 4 1/2 welcome innings for MSU. It gave the Bulldogs another win and allowed the team to reset following the disappointment of the past weekend.
Now, for State, all eyes shift to the final three games of the regular season. The Bulldogs are about to hit Highway 82 to Tuscaloosa for a three-game set starting Thursday as MSU tries to notch a few more victories in an attempt to lock down a national seed for the postseason.
"Our focus is on Thursday night and playing a great game at Alabama," Lemonis said. "If we play good baseball, we usually have success. That’s the mindset of our group right now."
(NOTE: YOU CAN VIEW MSU RIGHT FIELDER TANNER ALLEN'S FULL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE WITH THE VIDEO AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE. YOU CAN VIEW LEMONIS' FULL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE BY CLICKING HERE.)
Rain falls at Mississippi State's Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs went on to win 6-1 in a weather-shortened game against Jacksonville State. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)
Alright, let's take a quick look at Tuesday's numbers, game MVPs and the Moment of the Game:
Jacksonville State at Mississippi State box score
MSU Offensive MVP: C Luke Hancock
As the regular season winds down, Hancock is heating up. He was the lone Bulldog with more than one hit on Tuesday as he went 2-for-3, including his first-inning, two-run homer. He also scored a pair of runs.
Hancock is now 4-for-8 at the plate over the last two games with two homers, three RBIs and four runs scored.
MSU Pitching MVP: RP Jackson Fristoe
Fristoe didn't pitch on the weekend for the first time all season during State's series against Missouri, but he returned to the mound on Tuesday with fantastic results. The freshman right-hander worked a perfect third inning to keep MSU cruising along towards victory.
Fristoe faced three batters and on 17 pitches, got a ground out to short, a strikeout and a line out to center – three up and three down for the youngster. And his head coach liked what he saw.
"We just wanted him to go out there and have a good clean inning," Lemonis said of Fristoe. "He didn’t pitch [last] weekend. We tried to give him a little time off because he’s taken a pretty good load [this season] for a freshman. [Tuesday] was kind of like a bullpen for him. He was only going to throw 15-18 pitches. I was really pleased with him. He had good stuff, his fastball was good. We’ll reassess him and look how he can help us win this weekend. I don’t know what we’re doing on the weekend yet."
Moment of the Game: Hancock hammers MSU ahead
Stinnett pitched around trouble in the top of the first for the Bulldogs, then in the home half, Hancock used one big swing to put MSU into the lead. State of course then led the rest of the way.
Following the disappointment of last weekend's series loss to Missouri, the Bulldogs needed something to go right early on Tuesday. Hancock gave MSU exactly that. Here's a look at Hancock's two-run homer that got the Bulldogs off and running towards victory:
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