Mississippi State baseball didn't put together an ideal performance in the SEC Tournament. Facing a desperate Texas A&M squad early on Wednesday morning, the game quickly got out of hand. A pair of fielding miscues put the Aggies' first two batters of the second inning aboard, and then things totally fell apart. A single would bring in a run. A walk would load the bases. A hit by pitch would score another run. And then a grand slam would put A&M ahead 6-0. From that point on, the Bulldogs put it on cruise and got out of Hoover with a 9-0 loss.
It's certainly not what you want to see from a team trying to keep momentum entering regional play, and many fans were understandably frustrated with the outing. But if this game changed your outlook on this team for the NCAA Tournament, you may be reading too much into it.
Quick exit from Hoover doesn't change Bulldogs' overall trajectory entering regional play
State's overall body of work since making the coaching change remains strong. They've won nine of their last 11. That includes a series win over an Ole Miss team fighting for a host spot and a sweep against another potential tournament team in Kentucky. Those are quality wins, and despite how bad they've been, bludgeoning Mizzou doesn't count for nothing.
It's also understandable that the Bulldogs looked off in Hoover. I mentioned the Aggies were desperate. They need a deep run to even have a chance to reach a regional while State knows they are safely in. A&M threw their ace while State went with a freshman on the mound. There was simply a different mentality about this game between the two teams, which allowed things to spiral once State went down. Is it fair to wish MSU approaching things differently? Sure, but it's also fair to think this showing was an outlier.
Now, I would be remise if I didn't acknowledge that State's loss to the Aggies does impact them somewhat when it comes to their positioning in the NCAA Tournament. With A&M down in the 50s of the RPI, taking a 9-0 loss did result in a drop in MSU's own RPI rank into the low 30s. Rather than being a safe 2-seed, the Diamond Dawgs are now on the 2/3 line. How much does that matter? You could argue that as a safe 2-seed, they likely get a more favorable draw, but there's no guarantees either way.
Whether State is a 2 or a 3-seed, the way they've played over these last three weeks looks like a team no host wants to see in their regional. Even with a tough matchup, at their best, State can absolutely go on the road and take a regional. A one-off performance in Hoover doesn't change that.