Friday, April 24, 2009

Avoiding Minor?

by Barca Blog - Mississippi State will shake up its starting pitching rotation this weekend against the Commodores.

Head coach John Cohen will move his No. 1 starter, Tyler Whitney (2-3, 4.29 ERA), from Friday to Sunday, and will bump sophomore lefty Forrest Moore (2-0, 4.28) into tonight’s series opener. Freshman southpaw Nick Routt (4-2, 3.06) will stay in his Saturday starting role.

Cohen explained the reason for the change during Thursday’s SEC coaches teleconference.

“We just felt like we’ve really struggled on Sundays and matching Whitney up with the best guy on Friday night probably doesn’t work for us. Our Sundays have not been what we wanted them to be. We feel like we’re going to hopefully be able to put some more runs up as the weekend goes on. We just feel like where our program is right now, it’s just more advantageous for us to schedule our pitching this way.”

Friday’s game will be Moore’s first start since the Bulldogs’ 10-9 win at Tennessee on Sunday, April 12. In that contest, Moore lasted only two innings, giving up three runs on three hits while walking four. In three conference starts this year, he has a 7.07 ERA without a decision.

The Bulldogs (21-21, 6-12 SEC) sport a 7.05 team ERA during SEC play, which ranks as the second highest in the conference behind Auburn.

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