After sweeping #9 Oregon this past weekend at Dudy Noble, Mississippi State faltered to unranked Eastern Kentucky, 16-12.
Konnor Pilkington got a very solid start on the mound. The freshman gave up just one run off three hits and struck out five in 4 innings of work. Pretty good for his first start.
With the exception of the last three innings, the hitting was excellent. The Bulldogs tacked on 12 runs from 15 hits and produced two home runs, one by Nate Lowe and the other by Gavin Collins. Here are some really strong individual performances at the plate:
- Jacob Robson went 3-6 and scored three runs
- Cody Brown went 2-6 and scored two runs
- Nate Lowe went 3-4 and knocked in 7 RBIs
Obviously, the bullpen was the biggest problem. They blew two different six run leads. The dreaded "8th inning" returned for Mississippi State last night, giving up six runs, two home runs, and six hits in that inning which ended up sending the game into extras. And when I say the bullpen had problems, the ENTIRE bullpen that pitched had problems. Kale Breaux gave up three runs, Ethan Small gave up five runs, Vance Tatum gave up three runs, and Blake Smith gave up four runs.
The bullpen already had some struggles before this, but last night, it was blatantly obvious. They need to get some major work done to fix this and prevent it from happening again, especially as SEC play looms near.
The Bulldogs fall to 12-4-1 on the year and will play Wednesday night against Oral Roberts at Dudy Noble.