Mississippi State Baseball: Three Takeaways from the Diamond Dawgs' Loss in the Governor's Cup

Mississippi State won its SEC series against Ole Miss over the weekend, but the Diamond Dawgs ultimately lost Tuesday night's Governor's Cup to the Rebels by a score of 5-2.

Luckily for MSU, the Governor's Cup does not count as a true SEC game and can't affect the conference record. However, the Bulldogs need every win they can get to earn a spot in the postseason, which is approaching quickly. There is still plenty of work to be done and many things to be improved upon with roughly a month left of regular-season action.

Here are three takeaways from the tough midweek loss as the Diamond Dawgs move forward and prepare to face Missouri this weekend.

1. A bullpen breakthrough could be on the horizon.

It's no secret that Mississippi State's bullpen has faced a lot of pressure this season due to injuries. Landon Sims and Stone Simmons have been out for the season since early March, and Brooks Auger was recently added to that list as well. Parker Stinnett is another Bulldog that could be done for the year. The Diamond Dawgs used a few pitchers that have struggled this season against Ole Miss: Mikey Tepper and Cam Tullar. Tepper started on the mound for the Bulldogs and gave up just two runs on two hits with three walked batters and four strikeouts. Relief pitcher Tullar recorded a season-high eight strikeouts with no batters walked or runs scored. Those two players could be huge in the coming month for the depleted bullpen as long as they continue to perform well.

2. Plate approach continues to be a problem.

The Diamond Dawgs had a chance to put pressure on the Rebels early. Ole Miss pitcher Drew McDaniel was struggling to find the strike zone, but MSU simply didn't capitalize on it. Even with balls being thrown way off target, some players picked up unnecessary strikes by swinging at everything despite knowing who they were up against. Being aggressive at the plate is great, but it's unnecessary when the pitcher is dishing out free opportunities to get on base. At the same time, there were plenty of times when batters watched a ball sail straight down the middle for a strike without taking a shot at it. There's a fine line between knowing when to swing and when not to swing, but some Diamond Dawgs still struggle badly with that.

3. True pitchers should pitch first.

Lane Forsythe is an incredibly talented shortstop whose bat is starting to come around. He pitched in high school, so it's great that he is stepping up to help out a bullpen with limited arms. However, pitching a single inning in two games against weaker opponents doesn't mean that he should go in over other pitchers against a hard-hitting SEC school. Mississippi State ultimately paid the price-- Forsythe gave up three runs on four hits in just 0.1 innings of work. There was no proof that Tullar or Drew Talley could've done much better, but they are both true, experienced pitchers and should have probably been the ones given that first chance. Ultimately, putting in a shortstop with a 13.50 earned run average in two innings played and limited collegiate experience against conference teams wasn't the best decision by head coach Chris Lemonis.