Articles by Matthew Stevens
Yankees pick bullpen pair by drafting Lindgren, Holder
STARKVILLE — The New York Yankees organization has decided to just transport the best of the Mississippi State bullpen to the big city.
Bulldogs will be looking for more help in bullpen next season
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State spent the entire 2014 season relying on the back end duo of a bullpen to overcome any deficiencies.
MSU, Arizona agree to games in 2022, 2023
STARKVILLE — For the first time in their schools’ history, Mississippi State and Arizona will meet on the football field.
Sources with ties to both programs confirmed Thursday to The Dispatch that MSU and Arizona will play a home-and-home series in 2022 and 2023. The first game will be Sept. 10, 2022, at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. The Wildcats will make a return trip to Davis Wade Stadium the following year on Sept. 9.
Team Mississippi takes some of state’s best to Oklahoma
STARKVILLE — As Stacy Hester prepares to take another All-Star baseball team to Oklahoma for the Junior Sunbelt Classic, there’s one goal in mind: Show the nation Mississippi has elite level baseball talent.
Bracewell, Pirtle thank MSU fans
STARKVILLE — Some of the Mississippi State baseball team’s seniors thanked the MSU fans on Twitter following the squad’s season-ending loss to Louisiana-Lafayette.
Ray adds former Clemson player as graduate assistant
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray has brought one of his favorite players from his time at Clemson to Starkville.
Wild night at ULL ends MSU’s season
LAFAYETTE, La. — Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen and his coaches preach to their players to keep the game in front of them.
The Bulldogs’ inability to do that Monday night played a big role in the end of their season.
Cohen offers high praise to senior Pirtle
LAFAYETTE, La. — Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen isn’t going to let the final memory of Brett Pirtle’s two years as a Bulldog be something regretful.
Even though Pirtle made the final out in a 5-3 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in the championship game of the NCAA tournament Lafayette Regional on Monday night, Cohen offered Pirtle some of the highest praise a coach can give a player.
ULL blasts MSU to force final game for regional title
LAFAYETTE, La. — The wakeup call for the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team’s offense happened early Sunday morning.
ULL coach Tony Robichaux said his team was scheduled to celebrate Mass and have breakfast at 9:30 a.m. It didn’t take long after that for ULL to begin its destruction of pitchers from the state of Mississippi.
Ragin’ Cajuns hit Mitchell hard in victory
LAFAYETTE, La. — Mississippi State baseball coach John Cohen tried to protect his ace left-hander as much he could, but he said he could see an outing like the one Ross Mitchell had Sunday happening.
Holder dominates to push MSU into regional title game
LAFAYETTE, La. — If you didn’t know by now, the Mississippi State baseball team doesn’t follow a traditional way of doing things on the mound.
On Saturday, MSU’s sabermetric formula worked out just fine to deliver another postseason win.
Bulldogs get help from Vickerson, Detz, Britton in opener
LAFAYETTE, La. — John Cohen wanted more.
Even though the Mississippi State baseball coach knew Jake Vickerson, Alex Detz, and Matthew Britton experienced frustrating regular seasons, Cohen believed in his players. As he wrote their names into the Bulldogs’ lineup for the team’s game against San Diego State in the first game of the NCAA tournament Lafayette regional, Cohen hoped his players could have maturity he struggled with as a player.
Gentry delivers strong outing in Bulldogs’ first win
LAFAYETTE, La. — Myles Gentry verbalized the big-picture impact of his relief effort Friday in the No. 17 and second-seeded Mississippi State baseball team’s 5-2 victory against third-seeded San Diego State in the NCAA tournament Lafayette Regional.
SEC clarifies cowbell compromise
The Southeastern Conference clarified its wording of the artificial noisemaker rule Friday, specifically known to Mississippi State fans as the “cowbell compromise.”
Jackson State isn’t satisfied to have reached Lafayette Regional
STARKVILLE — The Jackson State baseball team’s journey to a second-straight NCAA tournament regional includes a bus trip it would like to forget.
While coming home from a game against Savannah State on May 5, the team’s bus caught fire. While no individuals were harmed in the incident, the team lost all of its equipment in the blaze.
Collins plays key dual role for MSU
STARKVILLE — Gavin Collins knows the Mississippi State baseball team’s opponent better than any of his older, more experienced teammates.
San Diego State showed early recruiting interest in Collins, who is from Lake Forest, California, but the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder wanted to play for the best and get to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Fitts expected to start for MSU
STARKVILLE — Trevor Fitts will throw the first pitch for the No. 17 and second-seeded Mississippi State baseball team in the NCAA tournament Lafayette Regional on Friday.
MSU football team could see battle at kicker
STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football team likely will have a battle for field goal kicker this season.
J.J. McGrath, a preferred walk-on at the University of Michigan last season, will transfer to MSU as a walk-on and could become the team’s field goal kicker in the fall.
Louisiana-Lafayette plays role of favorite at home
STARKVILLE — The top-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team has clear expectations.
Immediately after seeing his school as the No. 6 overall seed and earn the chance to play host to its second regional, ULL coach Tony Robichaux set a goal for his team to reach the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
