The Mississippi State baseball team just couldn’t keep up with the Oregon State Beavers
Oregon State is a really, really good baseball team. And, well, the Mississippi State baseball team simply couldn’t keep up with Oregon State today. The Beavers showed up and knocked the Mississippi State Bulldogs around from the get go and wound up beating MSU 12-2.
Oregon State outperformed Mississippi State in just about every sort of way today. The Beavers racked up 10 more hits than the Bulldogs and drew eight more walks than MSU did. The only place that MSU did slightly better than OSU was with strikeouts. Mississippi State’s group of pitchers forced five strikeouts today while Oregon State’s forced four.
That’s just about the only bright spot that can come from this game.
Jacob Billingsley earned the start for the Mississippi State baseball team but Oregon State didn’t struggle with him at all. Billingsley lasted 1.1 innings and surrendered six runs, all of which were earned. Billingsley faced 11 batters. He only got four outs.
But, this loss isn’t solely on Billingsley’s shoulders. It was the right move to start him today. However, Gary Henderson should have pulled Billingsley much sooner.
When Billingsley did come out for the day, Keegan James came in and threw for 3.2 innings and struck out three opponents. From there, Denver McQuary came in and threw for an inning before being replaced by Blake Smith who closed out the game.
The Mississippi State baseball team is now on the verge of being eliminated. The Bulldogs are one game away from playing for a national title. Unfortunately, Mississippi State is one loss away from coming home this season. It’s been one heck of a run up to this point, but Oregon State is throwing their best right at the Bulldogs. That best has caught MSU off guard.