Bulldogs back to originally-set pitching rotation at LSU
Mississippi State's originally-planned weekend pitching rotation is finally all back together in one piece.
Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis met with reporters on Thursday ahead of No. 3 MSU's weekend series at No. 19 LSU and Lemonis revealed he plans to start left-hander Christian MacLeod on the mound on Friday, followed up by Will Bednar on Saturday and Eric Cerantola on Sunday. Freshman Jackson Fristoe, who has wowed over his four weekend starts this season, will be moved to a bullpen role.
With Fristoe's strong start to the 2021 season, there was some intrigue as to how the Bulldogs might handle things in the rotation now that Will Bednar is back fully healthy following what Lemonis called a neck ailment. State had four arms for three spots. But as was the plan coming into the year, Bednar is a weekend starter once more.
"(Bednar is) 100 percent ready to go and obviously if you go back to week one, this was our original rotation and if you went back to the end of last year, this was our original rotation," Lemonis said. "It's what we were planning on to start the year. Obviously things happened and we had guys step up and pitch well, but Will is ready. He's ready to go."
Bednar has certainly looked like he's back to form in his previous outings this season. He's made three appearances as he's built himself back up from injury, throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits while striking out 14.
Then of course in the MSU rotation there's the ace, MacLeod, as well as Cerantola, who looked shaky over his first couple of starts of the year before he tossed five innings of one-hit, one-run ball against Eastern Michigan last weekend. Bednar, MacLeod and Cerantola are all considered possible first-round picks in this coming summer's MLB Draft.
With those three now filling up MSU's weekend starting gigs, that leaves Fristoe as a bit of an odd man out. However Lemonis insists the youngster will still play a key role for the Bulldogs, both this coming weekend and moving forward.
In his four starts this year, Fristoe has gone 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA. He's pitched 17 innings – a total that stands second on the team – and he's struck out 22. Opponents have hit just .138 against Fristoe. Following a start against Kent State in which he hurled six perfect innings, Fristoe was selected as the SEC's Freshman of the Week. Despite all that, Fristoe will now take his talents to the bullpen and try to help the Bulldogs from there.
"Obviously he wants to start, but he's going to get a chance to pitch and pitch in a good part of the game," Lemonis said of Fristoe. "Going into the first weekend of the year, he's probably pitched more than he ever thought he would to this point. Obviously he's a competitor. He's pitched good. He wants to pitch more. But he'll be ready to go this weekend."
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