Mississippi State Baseball falls to Vanderbilt in SEC Tournament
Mississippi State baseball suffered it's first loss in Hoover after midnight at the hands of Vanderbilt. The Diamond Dawgs fell 4-3 to move into the loser's bracket. State pitched a solid game overall, but their bats continued to struggle to produce. And unlike their first two games in the SEC Baseball Tournament, they couldn't find the 9th inning magic needed to win.
Jurrangelo Cijntje was dealing early for Mississippi State
Chris Lemonis turned to usual Saturday starter Jurrangelo Cijntje against the 'Dores, and Cijntje gave exactly what you'd expect. He started the game in as dominant a fashion as possible, striking out the first six batters he faced.
Vandy brought him slightly back down to Earth in the 3rd after three singles and a hit by pitch between them put a pair of runs on the board. A walk and a wild pitch would come back to bite Cijntje in the 5th, plating another run for VU.
But that said, he was still very good overall. In six innings Cijntje stuck out 10 and allowed three total runs. That's a fine outing by your starter. Reliever Gavin Black issued a leadoff walk in the 7th, and that run would come in to score to make the game 4-1. Cam Scheulke held VU scoreless the final two innings with three Ks.
State was solid enough on the mound against Vanderbilt. The issue was when Vandy got runners on, they found a way to bring them home. Mississippi State did not.
State's bats cold yet again
State continued to struggle at the plate Thursday night. And once again, the biggest problems came with runners on base. MSU stranded 11 batters against Vanderbilt (while VU stranded only five).
State was held scoreless through five innings before plating a run in the 6th. It briefly looked like they'd found some 9th inning magic once again. Down 4-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, they put together a two-out rally to cut the lead to 4-3 before Vandy recorded the final out, ending the game.
Connor Hujsak continued to be one of the few to come through for State with a double and 9th inning RBI triple. David Mershon had two hits. Amani Larry drove in State's first run of the game, and Nate Chester took advantage of a pinch hit opportunity in the 9th with a RBI single.
Hurting State more than anything else is the total lack of production from their two biggest bats, Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines. Those two are a combined 0-26 in Hoover. In fact, neither got a hit in the final regular season game either, so those numbers get worse.
MSU can't consistently win if they continue to get nothing from those two. They have to be better.
Hosting isn't a sure-thing for Mississippi State
It's likely frustrating for fans seeing the back and forth nature of how State's hosting chances are discussed. They seemingly go from being called a hosting lock to being viewed as a 2-seed after every single game.
But when you're near the hosting cutline with an ever-changing RPI and a notable flaw of five Q4 losses, your seeding will be volatile. As of this morning, both D1 Baseball and Baseball America project State as one of the top two seeds.
In their eyes, State has to beat Tennessee tonight if they want to host. MSU and the Vols will face for the first time this season at approximately 6:30 pm CT on the SEC Network.