For the first 16 innings of Mississippi State's series in Auburn the Bulldog pitching staff looked like it was finding its form, but the lack of depth in the bullpen led to their demise and a series loss on The Plains.
Cade Smith and Nate Dohm combined for two runs in eight innings in a 2-1 loss on Friday, and even in the loss, there was some optimism that the Bulldog pitchers were taking a step forward.
Saturday is when their lack of depth started to get to them. Without their usual starter Landon Gartman, sophomore Colby Holcombe took the mound instead of pitching in middle relief like normal. Holcombe did exactly what was asked allowing only two runs in four innings, and KC Hunt followed with arguably his best performance of the season with three hits, one run, and no walks in four innings of relief.
Four innings was already pushing it for Hunt, whose longest outing this season was three innings. With an 11-3 lead, State figured they could squeeze one more out of him and save their bullets for the rubber match.
Hunt gave up six hits and four runs before exiting the ninth inning, so Mississippi State was forced to bring in one of their top relievers in Aaron Nixon to close it out. The Bulldogs still came out on top with an 11-10 win as Nixon stranded the tying run on third after a bases-clearing triple by Auburn centerfielder Kason Howell, but it came at a cost.
The Bulldogs had already used their top two arms in Dohm and Nixon, and they were saving freshman Evan Siary to start Tuesday's midweek matchup with Ole Miss. Freshman Bradley Loftin's status is in question, and Holcombe was forced to start in Gartman's absence. It put them in a tough spot Sunday after Jurrangelo Cijntje gave them a good start to get them a 7-3 lead through five innings.
The switch-pitching freshman had been waning a bit but they trotted him back out for a sixth inning out of necessity, and Auburn first baseman Cooper McMurray's fourth home run of the weekend trimmed the lead to 7-5. State's next two bullpen options didn't exactly aspire much confidence.
Sophomore Tyson Hardin had allowed 11 earned runs in 2.1 SEC innings and would allow a two-run homer to Auburn catcher Nate LaRue, who hadn't gone deep all season long. Lefty Graham Yntema, whose season ERA sits at 9.30 in 20.1 innings, started the seventh and threw only one strike to three batters, plunking two and walking another.
Dohm saved the seventh inning in his second appearance of the weekend, allowing only an RBI sac fly and getting two strikeouts to hold a 9-8 lead, but he wasn't as sharp in the eighth which was his fourth inning of the weekend. Auburn third baseman Bryson Ware smashed a go-ahead three-run homer, and he would exit the game on his next pitch, walking off the field with the trainers and grabbing his elbow.
The Bulldogs managed to even it up at 11 a piece, but like Dohm, Nixon wasn't as dominant as normal in his second appearance of the weekend, and the Tigers walked it off with an RBI double by Cole Foster in the bottom of the ninth.
For a Mississippi State club that sits at just 6-12 in SEC play and is about to face its toughest stretch to close out the year in Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU, and Texas A&M the injury couldn't have come at a worse time.
The good news is that Dohm's injury isn't of the serious nature, according to head coach Chris Lemonis, but he's still going to miss some time and they're going to need some other arms to step up in his absence. Gartman is also not expected to miss much time, which would allow Holcombe to slot back into the bullpen.
“He’s [Dohm's] going to be okay,” Lemonis said Monday night on the “Dawg Talk” radio show. “We got a good report today, so I feel like, knock on wood, he will need some time, but I don’t think it is anything major.”
“His [Gartman's] wasn’t anything too serious,” Lemonis said. “This weekend, you look up, not having Gart, it trickled down. It is four, five more innings on the weekend you are trying to find, knowing you are playing Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.”
Even with Gartman back, the Bulldogs are going to need to replace the 3-4 innings that Dohm had given them on the weekends, putting them in a sticky spot for the home stretch of the season.
“We need some extra guys to help us right now,” Lemonis said. “We need some guys to go out there, be aggressive, and pound the zone.”
