Mississippi State Review/Preview: In Search of the Missing Letter

After hitting .461 the week before, Hunter Hines hit "only" .454 during the week in which he edged closer to the Mississippi State career home runs record. (Mississippi State Athletics photo)

By Doug Kyle

There is no “L” in Mississippi State, but yes, there are too many of them right now in its baseball record. And, strangely, it’s that one elusive element that agonizingly spells the difference between “competing” and “completing.”

The Bulldogs aren’t being overwhelmed in Southeastern Conference play, often taking leads at home and on the road against their three Top 10 opponents; but they are being overtaken, or held off, more often than not when they fail to hold a lead or avail themselves of scoring opportunities to overcome one.

They’re competing with everyone they play, they’re just not closing out and completing the games for Ws instead of Ls.

To paraphrase that oft-quoted Tennyson line, is it better to have competed and lost than never to have competed at all?

It often all depends on how much patience and perspective one has, as the furor of fans in the court of social media has already passed judgement through 30% of the conference schedule, while a somewhat less vocal segment takes an acknowledged but less conclusive position. They both want to win, neither is happy or satisfied, but the tolerance and the theories diverge not far past that common denominator.

To be sure, it’s a hole into which Mississippi State has excavated itself. Whether it extricates itself by season’s end is still undetermined. And, with a degree of difficulty that subsides as much as an SEC schedule can, there are opportunities which undeniably must be redeemed. Carpe Diamond, one might say.

And, given the previous trend in the pitching development and improvement (with the possible exception of the Nate Dohm injury) during the latter part of the 2024 season, there is supportive evidence to maintain optimism and expect better results down the stretch.

And, the hitting that forged an early, but incomplete, 6-2 lead at LSU, then fought back from an 0-8 hole to score 8 of its own, is developing. That’s especially and satisfyingly true for Hunter Hines, after his early season struggles have given way to a 5-11 week (.455), with two more home runs (60 career) and pushed his batting average to .306.

But, in the end, results do matter, and that's why they're called records. They matter now, but they matter even more at the end of the season. Put bluntly, if the Bulldogs are not able to take care of business from now until then, there’s a chance business takes place after the gear is stored.

What will ultimately sway any decision either way likely boils down to more than results, often factors that go beyond Ws and Ls. Those quick to grab a media guide and start cherry quoting records may or may not realize, or comprehend, the sea change that went into effect July 1, 2021, the day after the comparative point in time most often cited. And, one can’t help but wonder also what ratio of criticism to tangible support applies there.

Call me a loyalist, call me uninformed, say that my opinion doesn't count, fine. But what I have never believed to be a prudent and mature way to do business is the calling for firings, not yet even in the middle of the conference season, that I hear from fans and media alike. We're all unhappy, none of us like losing, but some of us respond to it differently than others do.

For the week that was, the Bulldogs dispatched a pesky Samford team in the Tuesday midweek, 6-1, allowing only an unearned run. Joe Powell, subbing for rehabbing Ross Highfill, and Hunter Hines had key RBI hits.

The results over the weekend were not so good, losing 8-6 on Thursday night at LSU after taking a 6-2 lead. Both teams had eight hits and left six on base, but after scoring runs in every inning 1-5, State had one hit and seven strikeouts after that, mostly credit to the LSU bullpen.

If losing wasn’t irritation enough for those watching, the SEC Network crew, choosing to toss in the MSU-LSU series all-time results as entertaining filler, botched it by reversing the State-led numbers; the comical coup de grâce coming when they even signed off with the wrong final score. It's trivial, but if it's worth airing, it's worth doing correctly, or not at all.

Pico Kohn was dealt his first loss (4-1) in Friday’s rain-delayed game, giving up two home runs in a 2-1 defeat, a game in which Bulldog pitching had 11 strikeouts and 0 walks, but Bulldog hitting left 12 runners on base, many in game-tying or lead-taking situations.

Again, evidence of competing, results of not completing.

Saturday’s finale had an even more extreme weather impediment, delayed from 2:00 pm to first 6:00 pm, eventually to 9:30 pm. And like a week earlier at Oklahoma, the opponent’s first inning was a killer, led 8-0 at completion by LSU, before many there could towel off their wet seats or those watching online could find a clickable link on the ESPN app to hear the Tiger radio audio over the SECN+ video feed.

Pitching struggled at both ends of the game, giving up runs every inning except the 3rd and 4th, when MSU could not take advantage and narrow a 4-8 deficit. The closest margin after that was 8-13 following a three-run 7th. And hitting was anything but situational, stranding 11 runners for a weekend total of 29 left on base, a key indicator why the 17-8 final wasn’t at least closer to competitive than nearly run-rule.

Being saddled with a 1-8 conference record after what is clearly the most difficult stretch of the schedule is not insurmountable. After a midweek in Memphis, the first of two winnable home series awaits (fellow single-wins South Carolina and Florida), wrapped around a road trip to Tuscaloosa, against the surprising but middle-of-the-SEC-order Crimson Tide. The highest standing SEC team left on the schedule? Sixth.

It’s still a long season ahead, and this year, the overall verdict won’t be completely clear until no sooner than the last out at Hoover.

It's also an exciting week to be a former Bulldog. Jake Mangum was called up to the Tampa Rays, and the 2025 Ron Polk Ring of Honor on Saturday inducts the seventh class since 2019, Mike Proffitt (posthumously), Ted Milton, and Mitch Moreland.

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