Where Mississippi State baseball's SEC tournament hopes sit after loss vs. Texas A&M
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball's SEC tournament hopes are on thin ice. MSU lost 6-4 to Texas A&M in the second game of the series on Friday.
Mississippi State, with Georgia and Missouri losing as well, remains one game behind both teams.
If Mississippi State (27-25, 9-20 SEC) beats Texas A&M (31-23, 13-16) on Saturday, LSU beats Georgia and Vanderbilt beats Arkansas, MSU would have the tiebreaker over UGA.
Since teams in opposite divisions are at play, and MSU hasn't faced Missouri or Georgia, top common opponent settles ties. Mississippi State needs LSU to hop Arkansas in the standings, so LSU is the top common opponent between MSU and UGA.
MSU wouldn't win a tiebreaker against Missouri because South Carolina cannot jump Vanderbilt as the top common opponent between those two.
In a three-way tie, Missouri would get in because of its record against Vanderbilt (the top opponent between MSU, Mizzou and Georgia). That would leave MSU and UGA in a two-way tiebreaker, which goes back to whether LSU or Arkansas finishes higher in the standings.
Had MSU swept Texas A&M and Georgia or Missouri gotten swept, Mississippi State would be in the field.
“That stuff is so complicated. I don’t what the hell we’ve got to do,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said postgame. “I just know if we win it’s better.”
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MSU took Thursday’s opener against Texas A&M behind a three-run ninth inning. Mississippi State rallied again Friday with a run in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 4-3 lead. However, Texas A&M’s Jace LaViolette launched a three-run home run in the ninth (his third home run of the game) to give A&M a 6-4 win.
With runners on first and third and one out, MSU elected not to walk LaViolette. Lemonis was asked about the decision postgame and said putting the winning run at second base played a role in pitching to LaViolette.
“We just left a breaking ball up,” Lemonis said. “We did it twice tonight on the breaking ball and he punished it. (MSU relief pitcher Aaron Nixon) had thrown a couple really good ones there right before. The guy was just hot. But yeah, looking back on it we probably should've.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Where Mississippi State baseball sits in SEC after loss vs. Texas A&M
