The Offense Flames Out for Mississippi State

The lineup did not produce for MSU as its season comes to a close.

Mississippi State Athletics

Every team that makes a regional in college baseball does everything in its power to avoid falling into the loser's bracket. While it is a double-elimination tournament, falling into a hole with a loss is almost impossible to overcome.

Mississippi State has fought out of the losers bracket before in 2017 and 2018. What made those runs so incredible was the ability of the pitching staff to perform in four straight games.

Pitching is the worry when dropping a game in a regional, but the offense cost State their season. Pico Kohn drew the start for the Bulldogs and pitched the best game of his college career.

The tall lefty threw seven innings, gave up three runs, and struck out eight. If State was going to win this regional, it needed an excellent performance from their starter to preserve the bullpen for a game seven, and Kohn delivered.

However, the bats for State did not hold up their end of the bargain despite racking up 19 hits and 13 runs in their first game of the day. The lineup has struggled for State since the last weekend of the regular season, but there was room for optimism, especially after a two-run home run by Dakota Jordan in the bottom of the first, which gave MSU a lead.

The good times did not last for MSU, as the offense would not score another run. Jay Woolfolk (2-1, 6.85 ERA) drew the start for UVA, his first start since March 17th.

Woolfolk worked eight innings tonight, the longest outing of his career. The second matchup against St. John's aside, every starting pitcher the Bulldogs have faced dating back to their four-game run in the SEC tournament has pitched well.

The offense struggled for State in their first matchup against UVA, but there were opportunities as they stranded nine runners. That was not the case in the second meeting, as State stranded only five runners. The work Bulldog pitching coach Justin Parker did this season was incredible; in three of the four games in this regional, the MSU starting pitcher went at least seven innings.

That was enough for this team to advance to the supers, which they would have likely hosted as Arkansas was eliminated from their regional. MSU head coach Chris Lemonis did a nice job this season rebounding from two horrific seasons, but he has a lot of holes to fill before next season.

Follow along with Cowbell Corner to see who the Bulldogs add from the transfer portal.