Mississippi
Alabama baseball loses road series at Mississippi State; takeaways from the weekend
Alabama baseball dropped another conference series on the road, this time at No. 21 Mississippi State. Alabama lost 13-3 by mercy rule on Friday, then 8-1 on Saturday to lose the series. The Tide won Sunday’s series finale 10-5.
The No. 17 Crimson Tide (29-18, 10-14 SEC) continues to struggle on the road, with a 6-10 road record and a 3-9 SEC road record. Alabama won its first conference road series last week by taking two games at Ole Miss but has otherwise been swept (at Georgia and Kentucky) or lost two of three (at Mississippi State).
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The Alabama offense struggled mightily in the two losses, as Mississippi State pitchers consistently brought the right stuff at the right times. Mississippi State (32-16, 14-10 SEC) has now won 10 of its past 12 games and looks like one of the hottest teams in the SEC, while Alabama still feels like a middle-of-the-pack team in the conference.
Here are three takeaways from the series between Alabama and Mississippi State:
Alabama baseball mercy-ruled on Friday
Alabama has won by run rule seven times this season, including once in SEC play when it beat OIe Miss 12-0 in seven innings last weekend. This weekend, Alabama finally found itself on the losing end of the mercy rule, falling to Mississippi State 13-3 on Friday.
Mississippi State got off to a fast 3-0 lead thanks to a three-run home run by Hunter Hines in the first inning. The Bulldogs never looked back, adding three more runs by the end of the third inning to make it 6-0. After Alabama failed to respond again in the fourth inning, Mississippi State doubled its lead with a six-spot in the bottom of the fourth to make it 12-0.
The Tide finally got its offense going in the fifth inning by posting three runs, but that would be its only scoring frame. Another run by the Bulldogs in the sixth inning got them back into run-rule territory, and a scoreless seventh by Alabama led to the 13-3 mercy rule final.
Shorthanded Alabama lineup falls on Saturday
Robbie Faulk of On3 and Starkville Daily News reported before the game that the Crimson Tide had an illness spread among the team, leaving them shorthanded for Saturday’s game. Sure enough, Will Hodo, TJ McCants and Evan Sleight were all out of action on Saturday. Max Grant and William Hamiter filled in for Hodo and Sleight, respectively, while Justin Lebron took McCants’ spot in center field. Will Portera took over for Lebron at shortstop.
The absences were felt across the Alabama lineup all day. The Crimson Tide managed just one run on eight hits, with the only run coming on a solo home run in the third inning by Grant. Alabama left nine runners on base in the game.
On Sunday, McCants and Hodo both returned to the lineup, but Sleight remained out along with Gage Miller. The lineup is expected to be back at full strength by the next SEC series against LSU.
Ben Hess impressive in Sunday’s win
After starting the season strong as the Tide’s top starter, Ben Hess has struggled since the beginning of SEC play. Heading into the Mississippi State series, Hess had a 0-4 record and a 10.21 ERA, while Alabama was 1-6 in SEC games started by Hess.
Greg Farone replaced Hess as the series-opening starter with the Texas A&M series, and Zane Adams took over as the Saturday starter for this series. With Hess making his first Sunday start of the season, he put together one of his best performances yet in Alabama’s lone victory over the Bulldogs.
Hess went four innings and allowed just one run on four hits, logging his first SEC win this season. He struck out four batters and was very efficient, getting through those four innings with just 62 pitches. Hess’ performance included a healthy mixture of his signature powerful fastball and a clean breaking ball that really seemed to give the Bulldogs trouble.
The Crimson Tide will look for more of the same out of Hess with postseason play around the corner.
What’s next for Alabama baseball?
Alabama will head to Troy for its final midweek nonconference game of the season on Tuesday. The Tide’s next SEC series will be a home series with LSU that is set to start on Friday.
Mississippi
Baseball: Larry homers twice, Mississippi State cruises past Missouri
STARKVILLE — Amani Larry’s younger brother was the “Lil’ Dude of the Game” at Dudy Noble Field on Friday, having come all the way from Bossier City, Louisiana to watch the senior second baseman play his final regular-season home games for Mississippi State.
In-stadium host Grace Harvey asked Larry’s brother who his favorite Bulldogs player is, and he gave the obvious answer. Perhaps inspired by the love from his family, Larry homered twice after the brief interview as part of a three-hit, four-RBI day to lead MSU to an 8-2 victory over Missouri.
“It was pretty awesome,” Larry said. “It’s awesome when you realize I’m playing in The Dude. Not everybody gets to do that. A lot of (youth) teams take field trips to The Dude. I’m just blessed to be here.”
With center fielder Connor Hujsak still out with a back injury, freshman Ethan Pulliam has shifted from second base to the outfield for the last two games, giving Larry, who had started the previous 16 games as the designated hitter, the opportunity to start in the field again at his natural position. Since returning to the defensive lineup, Larry is 4-for-7 at the plate with three home runs, five runs batted in and five runs scored.
“That may be part of the reason. I’m sure he would tell me that, (as) the guy who makes out the lineup card,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis said. “There’s nobody who works as hard as Amani in our program. He’s a wonderful kid and he’s a really good baseball player. This game is tough. It’s fun to see him reap some of those rewards.”
Larry provided more than enough run support for sophomore Jurrangelo Cijntje, who held the Tigers to just three hits — two of them solo homers — over seven strong innings, striking out nine and issuing just one walk.
Cijntje struck out five batters in a row at one point, and while his fastball was sharp, sitting in the range of 95-96 miles per hour for most of the game, his secondary pitches were the key to his outing. A year after finishing the season with an 8.10 ERA in 50 innings, Cijntje improved to 8-1 with a 3.48 ERA over 77 2/3 innings, striking out 3.5 batters for every walk and holding opponents to a .204 average.
“I almost wonder, was he throwing a cutter? It was so hard early. It was 90-91 (mph) a lot,” Lemonis said. “A couple weeks ago, he was using the curveball a lot. But it’s just what he feels some days in the bullpen. The slider was really good today, and his changeup. When he has his changeup, it’s really tough to hit him.”
Hunter Hines opened the scoring with a leadoff home run in the second inning, a blast that left the bat at 114 miles per hour and landed 416 feet away from home plate. It was Hines’ 15th long ball of the year, 12 of which have come in Southeastern Conference play.
Trevor Austin evened the score with a solo shot in the fourth after Cijntje had retired the first 10 batters of the game, but MSU (36-18, 17-12 SEC) retook the lead, for good this time, in the bottom of the inning. Hines walked and Larry singled with one out, and Logan Kohler beat the shift for an opposite-field single to bring in Hines. Joe Powell’s sacrifice fly to left then brought home Larry.
The Bulldogs broke the game open an inning later, taking advantage of two errors on one play by Missouri’s second baseman that put runners at the corners with nobody out. Dakota Jordan’s second double of the game drove in Bryce Chance, and two batters later, Larry launched a three-run shot into the lounge in left to put MSU on top 7-1.
Cijntje made one more mistake when Matt Garcia tagged him for a leadoff homer in the seventh, but he retired the next three men he faced to end his day after 95 pitches.
“Sometimes it’s just late in the game, you’ll hang a breaking ball or something,” Cijntje said. “You just have to keep your composure and stay locked in and don’t let that determine your outing.”
Larry led off the eighth with his second home run, completing his second multi-homer game in a Bulldogs uniform. He hit two on May 18 of last year, including a walk-off blast in the ninth, in a 10-8 win over Texas A&M.
MSU has won every home series in conference play and will go for its second SEC sweep of the year Saturday. The Bulldogs enter the day tied with Georgia for fifth place in the conference standings, though they do own the tiebreaker thanks to a series win back in early April.
“We’re still playing for seeding, for hosting, for all those type of things,” Lemonis said. “This league, it’s just so hard. That’s why you see a lot of teams get two and give back one. They’re locked in. They know how big (Saturday’s) game is and they’ll be ready to go.”
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Mississippi
The Morning Bell: Saturday, May 18, 2024: Mississippi State Teams All Victorious
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State fans had plenty to celebrate Friday and could have even more to celebrate on Saturday.
The Bulldog baseball and softball teams both won their Friday games, with the softball team beginning the NCAA tournament on a high note. At the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, the Bulldogs ended the first round inside the top 10.
All three teams have are in action again Saturday and could give MSU fans more opportunities to ring their cowbells.
Baseball: No. 16 Mississippi State vs. Missouri, 2 p.m. Saturday
Softball: No. 18 Mississippi State vs. winner of No. 8 Stanford/St. Mary’s NCAA Regional game, 4 p.m. Saturday
Women’s Golf: NCAA Championship Tournament at Carlsbad, Calif.
Baseball: No. 16 Mississippi State 8, Missouri 2
Softball: No. 18 Mississippi State 1, Cal State Fullerton 0
Women’s Golf: T-9th Place after 1st round of NCAA Championship
Mississippi State’s women’s golf team ended the first round of the NCAA Championship Tournament in a three-way tie for ninth place at 1-under par for the tournament, along with Oklahoma State and Florida State. Surapa Janthamunee had the best day for MSU with a 2-under, 71 and Julia Lopez Ramirez and Chiara Horder finished at even (72) for the day.
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Mississippi
Parts of Alabama and Mississippi brace for more heavy rain
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