South Paws Will Pave the Way
Jun 8, 2013; Charlottesville, VA, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs pitcher Ross Mitchell (48) throws the ball against the Virginia Cavaliers in the seventh inning during the Charlottesville super regional of the 2013 NCAA baseball tournament at Davenport Field. The Bulldogs won 11-6. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
It was announced on Monday that MSU will be heading to Lafayette, LA for Regional play. Up first is San Diego State, and then there’s a 99% chance ULL will beat Jackson State so we pretty much know who we’ll face if we win or lose to the Aztecs on Friday afternoon.
The big question is: what will the pitching rotation be?
There are varying opinions on what the best route could be, but rest assured that south paws will pave the way.
- Ross Mitchell
- Jacob Lindgren
- Lucas Laster
Those three guys will have to come up big for State to make it to a Super Regional. Based on what we’ve seen this year, we may only go as far as those three lefties take us.
When your offense is predicated on grouping a bunch of singles together it can be hard to score at times. It can be really hard to score in the postseason when seemingly everyone has an ace or two on the mound. So when offensive production is limited, pitching is what gets you through.
Trevor Fitts and Johnathan Holder are two righties that will undoubtedly play huge roles in this Regional. But the south paws are who MSU will rely on.
Any way to dice it, one of these three lefties should have a major impact on the game. If things go as expected, we are all looking at them to provide our best chance to win.
Game 1 –
If John Cohen and Butch Thompson decide to go with their best starter in Game 1, as they have the last two years, then Ross Mitchell is going to take the hill.
If they decide to stick with the SEC rotation and start Trevor Fitts, then in all likelihood Jacob Lindgren will be waiting in the wings to get out of a jam and/or bridge the gap to Johnathan Holder.
If they decide Lucas Laster is their man vs. San Diego State, then he will probably be leaned on for extended innings (hopefully 6-7), and Holder may be called on to put out any fires or close the game out – similar to the SEC Tourney game vs. Georgia.
Game 2 – pick one of the above three options that were not chosen for Game 1.
One of these three will likely have a major impact on every game this postseason. We might even throw in LHP Vance Tatum as well, maybe for a batter or two.
These three pitchers are the top three on the team in E.R.A. and opposing batting average. On a team that needs good performances out of their pitching staff, these guys are the key to the postseason.