Mississippi State Review/Preview: Looking For More Where The Past Week Came From
- Doug Kyle
- Apr 7
- 3 min read
By Doug Kyle
Perhaps some of the fans wanting a Mississippi State series sweep over fellow 1-8 South Carolina were disappointed, especially after Friday's 7-3 Gamecock win. But, those who hung in there were rewarded with the next best thing, a series win for the first time in 2025, when the Bulldogs outslugged their USC visitors 11-4 on Saturday and shut them out 6-0 on Sunday.
There is some difference between 3-9 and 4-8 at this point, but if the Bulldogs don't keep winning during what is undeniably a less challenging stretch of the conference schedule, it will make no difference in the end. Hoover is a gimme for everyone this year, but it's probably a bit optimistic to expect the SEC will snag as many NCAA slots as it did in men's basketball.
Still, it was a 3-1 week for Mississippi State, albeit a slow-starting one twice. After falling behind Memphis 3-0 on the road, the Bulldogs rallied and then ruled the Tigers 5-3 for an important midweek win. The Bulldogs have lost on Tuesday or Wednesday just twice, run-ruled one of them back, and if you haven't checked, I have, and you'll find Troy and Southern Miss tied for the top spot in the current Sun Belt standings, widely deemed the best G5 baseball conference.
It was aggravating to lose the series opener against South Carolina, particularly since Pico Kohn battled for a 3-3 tie until he left the game. The Gamecocks tacked on two runs two times, and after the 7-3 loss, if one was into negative superlatives, the tweets probably did just write themselves.
Perhaps it was all the good vibes coming out of the early Saturday morning Ron Polk Ring of Honor ceremony, maybe it was the charisma of first pitches from Mitch Moreland, Ted Milton, and Mrs. Harriet Proffitt. It could have even been the shutdown pitching of Chase Hungate, not allowing a South Carolina run in the final four innings, while his teammates tacked on five more of their own to turn a precarious 6-4 game into a blowout.
And speaking of teammates, starter Evan Siary had a challenging day keeping South Carolina's bats in check, surrendering three Gamecock home runs. His teammates had his back, though, to the tune of five bombs, led by a pair from Ace Reese, and single jacks from Reed Stallman, Noah Sullivan, and the first career one for Dylan Cupp.
Only Sullivan could repeat the going-yard on Sunday, but with Karson Ligon pitching possibly the best game of his entire college career, or at least as a Bulldog via down Miami way, it turned out the only run necessary was from Sullivan starting the five-run 4th with his seventh jack of the year. The two-way player, who's likely to see midweek pitching action, is also State's leading hitter at .355. With Reese's two on Saturday, he now leads the team in homers with 11.
After Ligon logged a season-long six innings, along came veteran fireman Stone Simmons, who faced nine batters and got nine outs (five of them strikeouts) for his second save. Technically, he gave up a hit to the final batter (interestingly, Ligon's only hit was the first batter, on the first pitch, of the game), who was thrown out to end the game while trying to reach second base. An out that by the way was reviewed by challenge and upheld.
The week past was a good start in the right direction, but it's nowhere near enough yet to satisfy either the critics or the NCAA Baseball Committee. Starting with this week's invasion of the state of Alabama, the State of Mississippi has to find a way to beat UAB in Birmingham, then find a way to emulate Saturday and Sunday into playing well again, maybe winning another series, in Tuscaloosa against a surprising, and ranked, Crimson Tide, who figure to be dialed in big time after losing two at Auburn over the weekend.
We'll talk more about it next report, but a very winnable week at home, against Southern U. and Florida, follows that to start the second half of April.
*****
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