Bulldog Brushback: What to make of Mississippi State's winless week against Arkansas

Welcome to Bulldog Brushback, the Clarion Ledger’s weekly look at where the Mississippi State baseball team stands throughout the 2019 season. Every Tuesday, we’ll ‘brush back’ over the biggest topics surrounding the Bulldogs as they try to make it back to Omaha. For last week's edition, click here.

Just when it looked like Mississippi State was going to take a stranglehold on the SEC West, the Bulldogs went to Fayetteville for a three-game series against the Razorbacks and returned home without a single victory. 

MSU sat atop the SEC standings entering the series, but the Dogs have dropped to the middle of the pack because of the sweep. No. 7 Arkansas now leads the division at 12-6, while the No. 8 Bulldogs are a few games behind at 10-8 despite being 32-9 overall. 

Head coach Chris Lemonis' team has a chance to reset in Tuesday's Governor's Cup game against No. 19 Ole Miss. The game does not count for conference records, but it is a chance for the Bulldogs to get back to their winning ways against a quality opponent. 

Here's what went wrong against Arkansas, issues the Diamond Dawgs cannot afford to have against Ole Miss and beyond. 

Starting pitching woes 

For five innings, it looked like Mississippi State would once again control an SEC series with its dominant starting pitching. Red-shirt junior Ethan Small was doing his thing Thursday; striking batters out, not walking them and putting zeros on the scoreboard. 

Then the sixth inning hit, and he wasn't the same. He allowed three runs to score in the frame, putting the Bulldogs down 3-1 in a game they eventually lost 5-3. Small's rough sixth inning was only the beginning. 

Senior Peyton Plumlee got another weekend start, and it wasn't a good one. Plumlee pitched two innings, and at the end of those two frames, the scoreboard read: Arkansas 5, Mississippi State 0. The Bulldogs couldn't recover in a 12-5 loss. Plumlee's earned run average has inflated to 4.08 in the defeat. 

Freshman J.T. Ginn wasn't too bad on Saturday. He kept the game scoreless through the fourth inning and only gave up one run in the fifth. When he tried to take his outing into the sixth, though, he immediately gave up a double and a walk. Those runners scored as a part of an eight-run sixth inning for Arkansas. Mississippi State needed three pitchers to finish the frame, including Ginn. 

Mississippi State's starting pitching has to be better to compete in the loaded Southeastern Conference, but the staff also needs a lot more help from the batting order. 

Hitting problems 

Mississippi State had 17 total hits in the three games against Arkansas. The Bulldogs had that many in their series finale win against Alabama a week prior. 

Three of State's runs in the series were completely inconsequential. Senior right fielder Elijah MacNamee's solo home run in the ninth inning of Thursday's game proved to not matter, and neither did a 2-RBI single by sophomore left fielder Rowdey Jordan in the ninth inning of Saturday's game. 

Timely hitting has been an issue for Mississippi State at times throughout the season. Senior center fielder Jake Mangum only has one multi-hit game in his last 10 appearances, and his batting average has dipped to .383 after reaching .428 two weeks ago. He needs six hits to become the SEC's all-time hits leader. 

Mangum isn't the only one who has gone slightly cold. Sophomore shortstop Jordan Westburg hasn't had a multi-hit game in over a week either, and MacNamee's only hit against Arkansas was that inconsequential home run in Thursday's game. 

Sophomore first baseman Tanner Allen continues to be consistent, though. He had a couple of multi-hit games against Arkansas as his batting average (.297) creeps closer to .300, a mark it hasn't been at since March 1. 

Bulldog Bash of the Week 

Dustin Skelton is no stranger to the Bulldog Bash of the Week. The junior catcher is this week's winner once again. Skelton launched his eighth home run of the season in the eighth inning of last week's 5-1 win over Texas Southern. 

Skelton's bomb was a two-run shot that all but ended the upset-minded Tigers' chances of walking out of Dudy Noble field with a surprising victory. Skelton pushed the Bulldogs' lead to four runs, the margin at which the game ended. 

Looking ahead 

Mississippi State and Ole Miss renew the Governor's Cup series at Trustmark Park in Pearl at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday. The Rebels bring in the same conference record as Mississippi State; 10-8. Ole Miss is 27-14 overall. Plumlee is expected to make the start for Mississippi State. 

The Bulldogs return home this weekend for a three-game series against No. 5 Georgia, the team that currently has the best SEC and overall records in the conference; 13-5 and 33-8. 

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter.