Mississippi State senior Chris LoNigro had pretty standard plans for the evening of April 12.
LoNigro, a communications major from Katy, Texas, had a group project meeting to attend. Afterwards, he planned to head over to Dudy Noble Field for the Bulldogs’ baseball game against UAB.
But earlier that day, LoNigro got a text that upended all those plans.
New MSU marketing director Chris Opheim was in need of a public address announcer for the contest, and LoNigro — the PA voice of Bulldogs softball, volleyball and previously tennis — was his first alternative.
LoNigro saw Opheim’s message as soon as he got out of class. Immediately, he said yes.
He had to break the news to his fellow group members first, but they understood.
“I was super happy to say, ‘Hey, guys, I can’t be here,’” LoNigro said.
For a student who “hounded” former marketing director Michelle Pontiff for years to let him fill in at baseball, working the mic at Dudy Noble was a dream opportunity.
LoNigro voiced not only Tuesday’s game but all of the ensuing weekend series against Auburn.
“I never really thought I’d actually be able to do it, but this past week was amazing,” LoNigro said April 20.
A good-luck charm
LoNigro, who graduates in two short weeks and is searching for sports broadcasting and PA jobs, has been on the mic somewhere or other since his freshman year.
In January 2019, he tried out to be the new softball PA man, but the job went to another student. LoNigro received another tryout to do PA for the Bulldogs’ tennis teams and passed it.
He thought he had signed up for a volunteer position that would offer good experience for his résumé and nothing more — until he was asked to bring his tax information to the Bryan Building to get paid.
“I was like, ‘You guys are going to pay me?’” LoNigro said.
He voiced much of the tennis season and filled in for part of a softball series against Missouri. That summer, Pontiff tapped LoNigro to take over for the volleyball team, too.
No matter the sport, the MSU senior said he enjoys being on the call.
“It’s a unique opportunity,” LoNigro said. “You do your marketing stuff. You do your fan engagement. You are announcing everybody who’s out there. It’s really an awesome, rewarding experience.”
He ran PA for volleyball for the past three seasons, watching coach Julie Darty Dennis help lead the Bulldogs to an NCAA tournament appearance last fall. LoNigro also took over softball PA in 2020, and Mississippi State made a regional the following spring.
So maybe it’s no surprise he thought he was some sort of talisman for the Bulldogs when he manned the mic at Dudy Noble.
MSU beat UAB on a walk-off home run that night, then walked off Auburn two days later. In Friday’s middle game, the Bulldogs finished off the Tigers after a pair of rain delays.
“Going into Saturday, I was like, ‘Wow, we’re 3-0,” LoNigro said. “Am I a good-luck charm? Is Chris Lemonis going to say, ‘We need that guy up here the rest of the season’?”
It wasn’t to be. In the series finale, Auburn eked out a win by throwing out Mississippi State outfielder Matt Corder at the plate to seal a 3-2 victory.
“We were inches from tying the game on that Saturday, but it was still awesome,” LoNigro said.
‘A good cycle’
LoNigro said he was awed by the sound of his voice reverberating throughout the grand stadium.
Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t quite loud enough the first time.
On April 12, as he read a welcome message reminding fans to be sportsmanlike while at the ballpark, someone else in the press box walked over and pressed the button activating the microphone even harder than LoNigro had.
“I didn’t realize that I had to push down more on the little mic button because it’s different from what I’ve used at softball and tennis and volleyball,” he said.
It was “the one thing I would change” in a performance for which LoNigro gave himself a grade of 8 or 9 on a 1-10 scale. He said he prides himself on using his voice — which is higher than the pipes of the Bulldogs’ typical PA announcer — to build up throughout the game.
Just take the first contest against UAB, as Mississippi State rallied to send the game to extra innings before RJ Yeager’s 10th-inning walk-off home run.
“As I was doing it louder with more energy, the crowd was getting louder with more energy, too,” LoNigro said. “I bring energy, and the crowd brings energy, which brings the team energy. It’s just all a good cycle.”
But he couldn’t quite approach the job the same as he might for a softball game, where LoNigro is known to let loose and attempt to excite the crowd. Third baseman Paige Cook’s name, for example, is elongated to four or five syllables when LoNigro announces starting lineups at Nusz Park.
Kamren James, Luke Hancock and Co. didn’t get the same treatment — not at Dudy Noble.
“The fans there, they expect a certain degree of professionalism in what you’re doing there,” LoNigro said. “I knew going in that I couldn’t go crazy like I normally do at softball where I’m yelling and almost losing my voice. I love doing that, but I knew that I just needed to do my own thing and show that I was doing a good job.”
LoNigro wasn’t the only one pleased by his performance.
Opheim texted LoNigro again the night of the UAB game, saying Dudy Noble’s new voice received compliments.
LoNigro was told he’d be on call for Thursday’s and Friday’s games against Auburn, but the following morning, Opheim asked him if he could be on the job for the entire series.
“Absolutely,’” LoNigro replied.
By then, the nerves he’d had at the start soon melted away. At first LoNigro took in the size of the park and the volume of his own voice resounding within it. He thought about how many people would be in the crowd.
“This is the big time,” LoNigro thought. “Everybody comes here. Everyone comes to The Dude.”
Once again, he was one of them — but this time, he had a different perspective.
“It was an amazing experience,” LoNigro said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
