By Doug Kyle
Back during Fall Drills, Mississippi State Head Coach Chris Lemonis noted he had a "50/50" mix of both returning and new incoming players. In the past week, Lemonis is showing exactly how true that is. He's benefited from big days off the bat of veterans Hunter Hines, Bryce Chance, Aaron Downs, and Nolan Stevens, and off the arms of pitchers Pico Kohn, Luke Dotson, and Karson Ligon.
But, he's also enjoyed the fruits of production from hitters Noah Sullivan, Reed Stallman, Ace Reese, Gatlin Sanders, Sawyer Reeves, Gehrig Frei, and the right arms of pitchers Ben Davis, Nate Williams, Ryan McPherson, Mikhai Grant, Chase Hungate, Dane Burns, Kevin Mannell, and Cade O'Leary, all of whom have seen their first career action as a Bulldog this year.
The Bulldogs met Southern Miss on Wednesday, postponed a day by weather, and broke up a close 4-3 game with innings of 4, 4, and 6 runs in the 4th-6th innings, ending the game by run rule at 18-3 in the middle of the 7th inning. It was the largest victory margin ever at home for the Bulldogs over the Eagles, in a 133-game series that dates back to 1947. The Eagles had earlier prevailed in Hattiesburg 3-0, when the two teams had only four hits each and the Eagles made early runs from errors and a home run hold up.
Even in the shortened game, Sullivan was 4-4, Stevens 3-4, Hines and Reese each 3-5, and emerging infielder Sanders was 2-3. The nine-hole hitter, Dylan Cupp, was also 2-2. And they weren't all singles. Stevens slugged two home runs; Chance, Reese, and Sullivan each had one. Winning pitcher Hungate teamed with returnee Evan Siary to shut down Southern Miss after the three early runs.
The blended success continued when Queens University of Charlotte, NC, came to town for a weekend series. Games that were close in the early innings eventually succumbed to the depth, hitting and pitching of the host team, a recipe for the sweep that was.
In the series opener Friday, Queens was hanging in at 5-3 when the Bulldogs tallied four runs in the 7th and 8th to pull away for a 9-3 win. Veteran Hunter Hines was 3-4 with a home run and three RBI, newcomer Sullivan was 2-3 with a home run and two RBI, newcomer Reese was 2-5 with an RBI double.
Pitching wise, veteran Kohn wasn't his usual untouchable self, walking two and giving up three runs on four hits, but he still battled and got nine strikeouts in six innings. Not to worry, Williams, now rounding into form in his first season on the Bulldog mound after recovering from injury during his junior college days, pitched two scoreless innings and struck out five, before veteran Luke Dotson continued his role as a closer from the left side.
Saturday, it was a case of highly efficient pitching and not as efficient hitting in a 10-2 victory. Inefficient hitting produces 10 runs? It could be seen that way when the Bulldogs at 10-1 were on the precipice of another run-rule win with only one more run in both the 7th and 8th innings, the last one seeing no runs score after the bases were loaded with no outs. Having to pitch the 9th then resulted in another Queens run, a playable triple to RF not seen in the late afternoon sun, and an RBI single up the middle that would have otherwise just been a two-out baserunner left on when the next batter popped to shortstop.
There was one hitter, however, who was almost efficient as it gets on Saturday. Aaron Downs was 3-3, with two home runs and a double, for 5 RBI. His first jack was a tape measure job, to left field that soared over and beyond the upper level of the Lounge Rigs. His second was several feet shorter but still cleared the outfield wall in the LF corner.
Lemonis began to substitute liberally late in the game, to the point one needed a roster to read the scorecard. The most successful were Joe Powell and Steven Spalitta, who both collected a hit in two at bats. The notable pitching performance came from newcomer and junior college product Davis, whose natural sinker pitch had Queens usually either striking out (4) or grounding out (11) during his uber-efficient pitch count of 57 in six innings. Newcomers McPherson, Grant, and debuting Stone followed Davis to the mound, Stone the unlucky victim of the ball that fell several feet out of vision and reach in the RF corner, yielding a runner at third base with one out instead of none on with two outs.
The Sunday game had the same 9-3 outcome as Friday and saw veteran Karson Ligon start and deliver a performance nothing like the game eight days earlier in Houston, when he struggled and left trailing 5-1 after two innings. Ligon didn't allow a hit until the 5th inning, and he struck out nine in those five innings, along with two hits and two walks, but no runs.
Downs delivered an encore from the day before, slugging two more home runs, one to right field, one to left, which prompted hurried thumbing through the record books to find the last time a Bulldog had multiple home runs in consecutive games. The answer? If you know, tell us. Names like Rooker and Hines have homered in two straight, but only a single jack in one of them. Even Joe Powell did it last year, one against Arkansas and three against North Alabama the next game. The week for Downs, which might put him in contention for some Player of the Week honors, was 5-7, 4 home runs, a double, 7 runs, and 7 RBI. And, he didn't even start Wednesday, so it was essentially just three games.
Returning veterans Bryce Chance and Ross Highfill joined Downs with two hits each, as did newcomer Sawyer Reeves, starting at shortstop while Dylan Cupp's knee soreness from a fielding collision mends. And like Saturday's game, Lemonis began to substitute in the late innings from his deep roster, with pinch hitter Gehrig Frei getting an RBI hit that left Lemonis kiddingly suggesting postgame he might need more positions with which to play all the wealth of options on this year's team.
Following Ligon, freshman pitcher Dane Burns threw an inning of relief, along with another newcomer, Kevin Mannell. Freshman pitcher Cade O'Leary also made his debut as a Bulldog, allowing a couple hits and a walk in the 9th inning but also striking out the side to end the game.
And the Bulldogs just kept increasing their lead, getting at least a run in six of the eight innings in which they batted and building an 8-0 lead before Queens was on the board. For the day, State pitching gave up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks, and struck out 14.
In the final non-conference games before Southeastern Conference play begins March 14 with Texas coming to Starkville for the first time since 1922 (when Dudy Noble was the coach, not the field), State ventures southward for its annual Spring Break ritual at Keesler Federal Park, in the Hancock Whitney Classic. The Bulldogs face Old Dominion on Tuesday at 6 pm, followed by Nicholls on Wednesday at 5 pm. Tickets are still on sale through Ticketmaster, and parking is free at Beau Rivage across Highway 90. TV is listed as ESPN+.
Game times for the Texas series are 6:00 pm Friday (SECN+), 2:00 pm Saturday (SECN+), and 1:00 pm Sunday (SECN). Lemonis has said he expects to use some pitching during the week not seen yet this season, as well as others who haven't pitched much lately, and the only likely starter at this time is Kohn on Friday against the Longhorns.
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