STARKVILLE — Before Jurrangelo Cijntje could throw a pitch and before David Mershon could take a swing Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field, the Mississippi State baseball team had learned its fate. 

LSU’s loss at Georgia earlier in the day clinched the Bulldogs’ berth to Hoover for next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, sending the Starkville Bulldogs home for the offseason after its 15-10 loss to Texas A&M. 

That’s what happens when a baseball team leaves its postseason fate in the hands of others. MSU (27-26, 9-21 SEC) needed a lot of help this weekend across the conference to have a shot at Hoover on the regular season’s final day. For the most part, the teams the Bulldogs’ needed to win complied — until Saturday. 

MSU needed LSU to beat Georgia one more time. It didn’t. 

MSU needed to beat Texas A&M one more time. It didn’t. 

Ultimately, it was a result that was meaningless. Dawgs win again, lose again…right now, it is Dawgs miss the postseason again. 

“Unfortunately for us when you are relying on other people to win and lose, you haven’t done your job,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said following his team’s season-ending loss.

Where did it go wrong for Mississippi State this season

The opportunities for MSU to find its way into Hoover were there. Not just this weekend, but throughout SEC play. 

The Bulldogs’ series loss at Auburn was a major missed opportunity. They lost Friday night that April weekend 2-1 in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly. They blew an 11-3 lead in Sunday’s rubber match. 

That could have made a major difference. 

So could have the following at Tennessee, where MSU lost 9-8 on a walk-off homer in the series opener, then blew a 7-2 lead the following day. 

There was yesterday’s game No. 2 against the Aggies, giving up a three-run homer to Jace Laviolette in the top of the ninth, electing not to intentionally walk him after the freshman slugger had already hit two homers in the game. 

Each one of those now compile into one big, fat what-if. 

“Those kids kept play,” Lemonis said. “They kept fighting…They could have put their head down and quit.”

At the root of MSU’s problems this season was its pitching — again. 

The Bulldogs’ team ERA of 6.87 entering Saturday was worst in the SEC — again. 

They ranked near the bottom of runs allowed, with an SEC high 354 — again. In 16 of MSU’s 30 SEC games, MSU gave up 10 or more runs. 

The Bulldogs gave up the most walks in the SEC this season with 321. Even the firing of pitching coach Scott Foxhall with three weeks left in the regular season didn’t change much. 

“It’s throwing strikes and staying healthy too is a big piece for us,” Lemonis said. “Being able to keep guys healthy is a big piece. There is always going to be something, everyone in our league has lost a guy, but losing seven, we lost seven last year and this year, it does catch up.”

Where does MSU baseball go from here

The only direction now for the Bulldogs, whether they are led by Lemonis or a new voice, is the future. 

Despite its struggles, MSU’s recruiting is still going strong. The Bulldogs have the No. 9 class in 2023, led by Colin Houck (Georgia), a potential first round pick in this summer’s MLB Draft. 

MSU’s 2024 class is currently ranked No. 6 in college baseball. 2025 is currently at No. 13 in its early stages. 

Barring the transfer portal, there will be a young, returning core a coach can win with returning to Starkville, led by a freshman trio of David Mershon, Dakota Jordan, Ross Highfill and Cijntje, who pitched 3 2/3, allowing four hits, six earned and finished his first college season with an 8.10 ERA.  

“When you look around our league and you see some of these teams and offenses and pitching staffs, they are losing everybody,” Lemonis said. “We are the young team. Offensively at times we had four freshmen out there playing, that’s not counting Hunter Hines and some of those other guys. Same thing pitching-staff wise.”

Hines and his 38 homers should be back. Amani Larry and Kellum Clark can possibly return, too (though unlikely), depending on what happens in the MLB Draft. 

There is a future here for MSU to get back to being a power program in the sports’ most powerful conference. 

The only way is forward. 

Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.