In a game featuring Texas’ best 2 pitchers (Madden & Hansen) they still lost to Mississippi State with a final score of 8-3.
Texas lost because of multiple reasons. First, Madden simply didn’t have his best stuff; he threw way too many pitches early in the game and couldn’t stay ahead in the count forcing him to throw the ball right over the plate. Also, the Texas hitters were not good until the 9th inning.
Texas had a chance to tie the game in the 5th inning; they had bases loaded with 0 outs and the top of the order up. Texas’ 1, 2, and 3 hitters struck out back to back to back with the bases loaded which really killed their momentum.
The main issue Texas had was their outfielders not producing hits. Their 3 outfielders are their 1, 2, and 3 hitters and they combined for 2 hits on 13 at bats (and 1 of the hits was a bunt single in the first inning). Another issue for Texas was their left side of the infield. Trey Fatine (SS) and Cam Williams (3B) accounted for both the fielding errors in the game.
For Mississippi State, they looked like an elite team. The best offensive player was without a doubt Luke Hancock (DH) he went 3-4 with a HR and a walk, with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. It didn’t matter if Hancock was facing a righty or a lefty, he was clearly the best hitter on the field today.
The best pitcher for Mississippi State was Landon Sims who came in relief in the 5th inning with the bases loaded and 0 outs. He struck out the side in the 5th inning and then went on to strikeout 10 of the 12 batters he faced. He ended his 4 inning stint with 0 hits 0 runs 0 walks and 0 HBP.
The key takeaway from this game is that Texas’ bats were cold. The one positive to takeaway from the game is the mini rally they had in the 9th inning when they had 2 runs and squared up the ball nicely against Riley Self (Mississippi State reliever). The pitchers need to have better outings, but they will never win if they have hitting performances like today!
Max's Sports Blog 