STARKVILLE — Bryce Chance was upset with himself over a baserunning mistake.
With Mississippi State trailing Air Force by a run in the fifth inning Friday, Nate Chester hit a line drive that Falcons right fielder Jake Greiving hauled in for the second out. Chance, who had been on second, was running on contact and was easily doubled off to end the inning.
Two innings later, the left fielder redeemed himself in a big way. On a 2-0 count, Chance got a hanging breaking ball from Air Force left-hander Kyle Moats and hit a laser beam that just cleared the fence in left-center field for a two-run home run to give MSU the lead. The Bulldogs added three insurance runs and the bullpen was outstanding in an 8-4 Opening Day victory.
“I’m trying to be better this year about flushing stuff that’s happened before. I got ahead in the count and he hung a breaking ball for me,” Chance said. “I knew when that happened, everybody could loosen up. We still had a little bit of the Opening Day jitters, we could play cleaner, but it was a good win to start the year off.”
In front of 11,216 fans at Dudy Noble Field, a record crowd for Opening Day in Starkville, the Falcons jumped on MSU starter Nate Dohm for three hits and a run in the first inning. But the Bulldogs (1-0) came right back against Air Force’s Seungmin Shim as Chance and third baseman Logan Kohler delivered back-to-back RBI singles in the home half of the first to give Dohm a lead.
Dohm exited after four innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Kohler, a transfer from Memphis making his MSU debut, also left the game in the fourth after sustaining an apparent shoulder injury. Head coach Chris Lemonis did not provide an update on Kohler after the game, but said he was in good spirits in the dugout after coming out of the game.
“I thought (Dohm) was good, not great,” Lemonis said. “The breaking stuff has been better. He gave up a couple hits on breaking balls that when he’s throwing it good, they’re not going to hit it as much. But I thought he was good. He competed, we got decent volume with his pitching, got four innings out of him. His fastball was really good.”
Evan Siary was the first Bulldog out of the bullpen, and Jay Thomason greeted him rudely with an opposite-field solo home run to lead off the fifth. Siary allowed another run in the inning on a pair of doubles, but settled down and retired the Falcons (0-1) in order in the sixth.
Right fielder Dakota Jordan got a run back for MSU in the bottom of the fifth with a long home run to center field that traveled 415 feet and left the bat at 116 miles per hour.
“Our first five innings, I felt like we were swinging lead poles,” Lemonis said. “When (Jordan) hit that ball, everybody kind of relaxed a little bit. It’s funny, after Bryce’s swing, everybody relaxed and we had a lot better swings after that.”
Lefty Tyler Davis worked a scoreless seventh for the Bulldogs, and after Chance put MSU in the lead for good, center fielder Connor Hujsak gave the hosts another run with an RBI triple in the right-center gap. The Bulldogs added two more in the eighth on a bloop double by second baseman Amani Larry, coupled with an error, and a run-scoring groundout by first baseman Hunter Hines.
Cam Schuelke was dominant on the mound over the final two innings, retiring all six batters he faced on just 16 pitches. A transfer from the College of Central Florida who has spent the last two summers with the Cotuit Kettleers of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, Schuelke delivers his pitches from a variety of arm slots and fills the zone despite not possessing particularly high velocity.
MSU’s bullpen notably did not issue a walk in five innings, an encouraging sign after the Bulldogs walked the most batters in the Southeastern Conference last season.
“You have to raise your own level, and then you learn how to compete at that level,” Schuelke said. “That’s what we’re doing here. It’s what we’re going to do in SEC play, it’s what we’re going to do all year.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
