MSU is shutout in Game 1 vs. Arizona

MSU was held to only 5 hits and lost 1-0 to the Arizona Wildcats in Game 1 of the Starkville Super Regional.

The Bulldogs got a good enough start out of Dakota Hudson to win, but their bats were silent all night so the lone run surrendered ended up as a loss.

State had two main chances to score on the night:

1. In the third inning, Jake Mangum led off with a single, then was erased at 2nd base on a force play which landed Nathaniel Lowe at first. Gavin Collins absolutely smoked a double down the left field line that perhaps would have scored Mangum but ended up with runners at 2nd & 3rd for Jacob Robson. The Maple Hammer is hitting under .200 since coming back from his injury on April 30th and couldn’t get it done.
2. State had only three hits all night. In the 9th inning, Rooker and Humphreys struck out swinging, but then Gridley and Holland got singles to bring Mangum up to the plate with two on. He struck out, however, to end the game.

Concerns are starting to arise out Jake Mangum, as he seems to be chasing horrible pitches. He fanned twice in this game on balls that nearly hit the plate. He’s struck out six times since Regionals started after rarely doing so in the regular season. Nevertheless, he’s still managed to get some hits and his average remains well above .400.

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The Arizona pitcher, Bobby Dalbec, was filthy all night. He was hard to hit and seemed to be harder to hit as the night wore on….hitting the upper 90s on the radar gun into the 8th inning.

The game was stopped in the middle of the 8th due to a power outage. It was a weird scene reminiscent of when a squirrel blew up a transformer circa 2003, causing a Tuesday night game vs. Memphis to be cancelled.

When the lights first went on, it was still bright enough to play, however, they had been on during the top of the 8th inning so it was required they be on in the bottom half as well. So we waited and after about a 20-30 minutes they came back on and play resumed.

Game 2 will be at the same place, same time: DNF at 5:00. Arizona is expected to throw their ace who pitched two games in Lafayette while MSU will counter with Austin Sexton in a must win.