Starkville, MS- On a Tuesday morning with most of the students in class, Mississippi State went out and dominated Arkansas-Pine Bluff. State won 17-1, and forced the game to go to a mercy rule in the seventh inning.
Toeing the rubber for the Bulldogs today was RHP Jackson Fristoe, a sophomore from Paducah, KY. As a freshman, Fristoe struggled at times, but his talent really flashed, earning him the opportunity to compete with the USA Collegiate National Team over the summer.
Now back with the Bulldogs, Fristoe had a very solid season debut, pitching 4 innings and striking out 6, earning him a win. He allowed just 4 hits and 1 run, a homer by Pine Bluff designated hitter Braelin Hence. Fristoe appeared to have much better command of his fastball than he did a year ago, sitting around 91-92 MPH. He kept hitters guessing while mixing in his slider, throwing it in the strike zone early in the count, and made hitters chase it with 2 strikes.
“I was able to manipulate it really well,” Fristoe said about his slider.
The Bulldog offense got off to a hot start putting up 8 runs in the bottom of the first. Arkansas Pine-Bluff starter Mike Gerwitz was able to retire the first two Mississippi State batters, 3rd baseman Kamren James and catcher Luke Hancock, but after that it went downhill.
Designated hitter Logan Tanner got things going with a single, and 1st baseman Hunter Hines followed with a walk. 2nd baseman R.J. Yeager then knocked in Tanner with an RBI single. Pine Bluff had a chance to get out of the inning down just 1-0 with center fielder Matt Corder coming to the plate. Corder hit what seemed to be a routine grounder to the 2nd baseman, but he would bobble it, and the inning would continue.
State would string together a series of singles and walks, and even drew 2 hit by pitches before Pine-Bluff made the change to lefty Frank Perez. Perez was able to strike out Hunter Hines to end the inning, as State led 8-0.
Right fielder Drew McGowan knocked in the only run of the 2nd inning for the Bulldogs with an RBI single, but the 3rd inning was another rough one for the Golden Lions. Perez would walk the 1st three batters of the inning. Hunter Hines then got hit by a pitch, and Tanner Leggett, who replaced Lane Forsythe at shortstop, drove in a run on a fielder's choice, and Matt Corder followed that with an RBI groundout.
Andrew Walling, a lefty from Eastern Oklahoma State College, came in to relieve Fristoe to start the fifth. He got off to a shaky start walking the first 2 hitters, but he bounced back forcing a groundout and a double play.
At this point, Chris Lemonis had replaced most of his starters with his bench, but the offense didn’t stop. Tanner Leggett led off the 5th with a homer to left field off of Wesley Guy, making that a homer in back to back games for him.
Leggett says he’s keeping a simple approach. “I’m not trying to do too much, but the homers are coming.”
Andrew Walling would go back out to pitch the sixth, but walked the first hitter and would be replaced by lefty Pico Kohn.
“He just needs to throw strikes,” said Chris Lemonis. “He had great warm ups, first couple of pitches were good, and then kind of got out of it. We just didn’t want him to get into a big jam.”
Kohn, a freshman from Verbena, AL had an impressive debut today. He went 2 innings allowing just 1 hit and struck out 3 batters. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, sitting around just 88-89 MPH, but his curveball has lots of movement on it to keep hitters missing.
Even up 13-1, the Bulldog hitters stayed locked in at the plate. Sophomore 2nd Baseman Davis Meche led off the sixth with a homer, the first of his Mississippi State career. Tanner Leggett continued his hot streak with an RBI double, and center fielder Brayland Skinner followed with a 2-RBI single.
Since the Bulldogs were up by more than 10, the game ended in a mercy rule after Kohn retired the side in the top of the seventh.
The win moves Mississippi State to a 2-2 record, and they are set to host Northern Kentucky for a 3 game series this weekend.
