STARKVILLE – Mississipi State (28-19, 9-14 SEC) took a pair from Kentucky (25-19, 10-13 SEC) on Saturday. With those two wins, the Diamond Dawgs have secured the series win and will go for the weekend sweep on Sunday. Should the Bulldogs win that contest, that would pull even with the Wildcats in the SEC standings with just two weekends left to play.
State took care of business in game one in just seven innings. A 14-4 decision was rendered as the Bulldogs mercy-ruled the Wildcats to take the series opener. A game of a much different variety unfolded in the second half of the twin billing. It took eleven innings, but State simply made one more play to win than Kentucky did. A pair of huge crowds got to see a pair of huge wins.
“Doubleheaders at The Dude are awesome,” reliever Luke Dotson said. “Fans come out every time. It was great to put on a show for them today.”
It was a show and it was one that anyone connected with Mississippi State found entertaining. State has had a difficult week with the firing of Coach Chris Lemonis. The team has responded in a favorable way and have now won three straight including a pair of precious SEC wins over Kentucky.
At times this year, it seemed like Mississippi State was inventing was to lose games. The effort and talent were there, but for one reason or another closing out games proved to be difficult. That was not the case on Saturday as State shelled Kentucky pitching in game one and then the Bulldog bullpen put together 7.2 innings of scoreless relief allowing just one hit. It was Dotson who was credited with the win in the 11th.
“It was awesome,” Dotson said. “Stone (Simmons), (Ryan) McPherson and Nate Dogg (Nathan Williams) before me, held the game in balance. I am grateful for them to give me the chance to be able to pitch too. It was good.”
Dotson is correct. He retired the final two Kentucky hitters of the evening on just six pitches, but his relief effort was stacked on the good outings of this teammates in the earlier innings. Every Bulldogs on the team made a contribution today, especially those who held Kentucky scorless over the balance of the final seven innings.
“The bullpen has been up and down all year,” Dotson said. “We know that every time Coach (Justin) Parker brings us into the game he believes in us for that moment. We’ve worked hard for the moment that he gives us. Every time we go out there, we try to do the same thing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Out training is paying off.”
Over the course of the last few days, there has been both a belief and an expectation for Mississippi State to win. Even when the Bulldog offense stalled out in the middle innings of game two, there appeared to be a prevailing school of thoughs that the Diamond Dawgs would find a way. They did.
“We have to get ahead with strike one,” Dotson said. “We can’t waste any pitches. We’ve had problems with the big inning. Getting the leadoff out sort of limits with the other offense can do in their playbook. The leadoff out makes the inning shorter, the pitch counts lower and better success.”
State will look to keep things moving in the right direction on Sunday as they go for the SEC sweep. First pitch is set for noon CT. The game can be seen on the SEC Network, streamed through the ESPN App and heard on the Bulldog Baseball radio network.
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