Baseball: Mississippi State handles business against Alcorn State

STARKVILLE — Pico Kohn’s first start back from Tommy John surgery wasn’t bad, but head coach Chris Lemonis knew the left-hander was capable of much more.

Mississippi State gave Kohn the midweek start at Samford on Mar. 26, and although he allowed only one run, he walked three batters in just two innings of work. Three weeks later, Kohn took the mound again to face an Alcorn State team with just two wins all season, a unit that entered Tuesday ranked 302nd out of 305 Division I teams in the RPI. And this time, he was excellent, holding the Braves to one hit and no walks with five strikeouts over three scoreless innings.

The Bulldogs were patient at the plate against the nation’s second-worst pitching staff by ERA, drawing 12 walks en route to an 11-0 run-rule victory.

“I was very pleased. We got out to a good start, got a little lead, got to add on to it,” Lemonis said. “That was the best we’ve ever seen Pico. Karson Ligon was really good, Gavin Black was probably as good as we’ve seen him.”

MSU (23-14), which fell out of the D1Baseball Top 25 after losing two out of three at Ole Miss over the weekend, jumped out in front in the first inning when Amani Larry and David Mershon walked and Dakota Jordan’s single brought them both in. Jordan drove in his third run of the night with a triple two innings later before he and most of the Bulldogs’ other starters were lifted for pinch hitters or defensive replacements.

Freshman Ethan Pulliam, a Starkville High graduate, made the most of his first collegiate start with an RBI single in the fifth and another single in his next at-bat. Fellow rookie Dylan Cupp, who had not played since Mar. 21 at Texas A&M, returned to action and committed a throwing error on his first fielding chance at shortstop, but later delivered an RBI single of his own.

“Ethan was really good in the fall, really good in spring training,” Lemonis said. “It was his time to get an opportunity, and he had a really good game. He just works. He’s just a worker. He just shows up and gets after it, hasn’t pouted, hasn’t acted like a baby, and the game respects that.”

Kohn retired the first eight batters he faced before giving up a double, then giving way to Ligon in the fourth. Ligon, Black, Colby Holcombe and Logan Forsythe each worked a scoreless inning in relief.

“I feel like I was full go today,” Kohn said. “Slowing down had a lot to do with the (velocity) being more consistent, finishing my pitches a lot. My arm felt really good today.”

Alcorn State (2-27) came in issuing 9.36 walks per nine innings, the most in all of Division I baseball. Mershon drew free passes in all three of his plate appearances before Cupp replaced him, and Jackson McKenzie and Logan Kohler each walked twice.

“That was part of the game plan,” Lemonis said. “It’s not the speed that we usually see, so (we wanted to) take a pitch, see a ball, get our timing, and make sure you get a pitch that you’re willing to hit. Sometimes it’s hard to get a lot of hits when you’re used to 94 (miles per hour) and you’re getting 84. It’s just a difference in timing, and you don’t train every day for that.”

The Bulldogs return to Southeastern Conference play with a three-game series against Auburn beginning Friday night. Lemonis did not provide an update on Nate Dohm, whose return from injury was cut short after just 12 pitches against Georgia on Apr. 7, but he expects Jurrangelo Cijntje — who exited his start last Saturday at Ole Miss with back tightness after three innings — to be ready to go.

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