Bulldogs have little trouble with Tigers
Mississippi State 8, Clemson 5
STARKVILLE, MISS. — Pitching is what enabled Clemson's baseball team to push through during a season of injuries and offensive inconsistency.
On a stiflingly hot weekend at Mississippi State, pitching is what ultimately ended the No. 9 Tigers' season two wins short of the College World Series.
There were deficiencies in other areas, to be sure. But when the No. 19 Bulldogs have their way with every high draft pick Clemson puts on the mound, there's nowhere else to point the finger.
A day after Mississippi State got the best of Daniel Moskos, the fourth overall pick in last week's draft, the Bulldogs torched second-round
pick David Kopp early Saturday. That put Clemson in an almost impossible game of catch-up, and the result was an 8-5 super regional loss that ended the Tigers' season in front of 13,715 fans at Dudy Noble Field.
Needing to beat the Bulldogs twice after Friday's 8-6 loss, Clemson couldn't beat them once. Mississippi State (38-20) didn't bat an eye at the Tigers' supposedly formidable pitching staff.
"We see guys like that all the time in the Southeastern Conference," said senior center fielder Jeffrey Rea.
The Bulldogs, who advanced to Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 1998, made the Tigers' pitchers look ordinary in the best-of-three series. Kopp, a junior who is expected to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals, wasn't able to make it out of the second inning after giving up five runs (three earned) on five hits with three walks.
Up 7-5 in the ninth, Mississippi State was able to hit another high draft pick — third-rounder Alan Farina — to score another run, making the cushion more comfortable.
"They had answers for our pitching," said Clemson coach Jack Leggett, whose team finished the year 41-23. "They got some big hits when they had to."
Offensive lapses plagued Leggett's team this season and were also a problem this weekend, but that's not what killed the Tigers in their third consecutive trip to the super regionals. A day after the Bulldogs roughed up Moskos and reliever Stephen Clyne (third round, New York Mets), they forced Kopp into his shortest stint of the season.
By the time lefty reliever Ryan Hinson came on in relief with two outs in the second, Mississippi State was up 5-2. Clemson made it 5-4 in the fourth, but the Bulldogs answered with two runs in the fifth.
The Tigers had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Andy D'Alessio flied out to deep right field and Taylor Harbin struck out swinging to end it.
Lefty Justin Pigott pitched six solid innings for Mississippi State, and Aaron Weatherford gave up just one hit in 1 2/3 innings before giving way to Mitch Moreland, who pitched to D'Alessio and Harbin in the ninth.
After Harbin's strikeout, Mississippi State's players met at the pitcher's mound and formed the dog pile that marks every team's passage to Omaha. As fans swarmed in from beyond the outfield fence, Clemson's players looked on in silence.
A year ago, the Tigers created a similar scene at home after defeating Oral Roberts to secure their first trip to Omaha since 2002.
"It's a great feeling for them," said third baseman Marquez Smith. "We went through it last year. It's pretty tough to watch the other team celebrate."
Leggett had some reservations about starting the right-handed Kopp against a lineup with six left-handed batters. Kopp sizzled in an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament win over Florida State but struggled last week against Coastal Carolina in the regionals.
"He's had some ups and downs at different times," Leggett said. "But when he's on, he does a real good job for us."
Kopp and the rest of Clemson's pitchers didn't do the job in Starkville. The result was the Tigers going two-and-out for just the second time in seven super regional appearances.
"They attacked our pitchers pretty well," said D'Alessio, who was 1-for-4 Saturday. "It looked like they had a pretty good plan at the plate."
E—LaNinfa, Butler, Harbin. DP—Miss. State 1, Clem 1. LOB— MS 10, Clem 9. 2B—Moreland 2, Sneed, Butler, Burgess. 3B—Hardy, Johnson. HR—Hogan (13). SH—Butler. SF—Harbin. SB—Chalk.
HBP—by Pigott (Johnson), by Farina (Diggs).
Time—3:23. Att—13,715.
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