Mississippi State baseball sits in a position where hosting isn’t an impossibility, but the Bulldogs have to start piling up some wins. Can that begin this weekend with a tough trip to Vanderbilt? Brian Hadad and Robbie Faulk discuss a huge series with major implications for the Diamond Dawgs.
The start of the week could be a mix of rain and sun across the Magnolia State. Here’s your forecast for Monday, May 6, from the National Weather Service.
Throughout the day, the sun could peek out with a chance of showers and thunderstorms going through night. Highs will be in the mid 80s with lows in the upper 60s.
After some patchy fog in the morning, the sun should come out with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms until the evening hours. Highs will be in the mid 80s with lows in the upper 60s.
Like central Mississippi, sunshine is expected but with a slight chance of rain throughout. Highs will be in the upper 80s with lows near 70.
Hurricane Preparedness Week underway in Mississippi
Matalasi Faapito is exuberant as she rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run for Mississippi State on Samoan Heritage Day. MSU defeated Georgia 2-1. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)
STARKVILLE — Samantha Ricketts had a good feeling about Matalasi Faapito.
The fifth-year senior, in her third season at Mississippi State after transferring from New Mexico State, was a true two-way player in her first year as a Bulldog in 2022, hitting 14 home runs and driving in 40 runs. But she entered Sunday’s regular-season finale with just 13 at-bats all year, the majority of them as a pinch hitter. In likely her final game at Nusz Park, though, Faapito drew the start at designated
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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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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