STARKVILLE — For the second consecutive year, Mississippi State baseball isn’t playing in the postseason.
It has been a hard fall to the bottom of the Southeastern Conference over the past two years for the Bulldogs after winning the national championship in 2021. Since then, MSU has a 18-42 record in conference play and has yet to return to Hoover for the conference tournament.
The lack of success the past two seasons has put into question every aspect of the program, including the future of head coach Chris Lemonis.
As frustrating as the last two years have been for the Bulldogs, there are reasons to believe they can return to their winning ways.
Here are five reasons to be optimistic about MSU baseball next season.
1. A strong freshman core that showed major promise
By the end of the season, MSU had three freshmen — Dakota Jordan, David Mershon and Ross Highfill — in its everyday lineup, contributing to its offensive production on a consistent basis.
That doesn’t even mention the several freshmen in its pitching staff — Jurrangelo Cijntje, Evan Siary, Bradley Loftin and Brock Tapper — that MSU relied on to eat up innings throughout the year.
Jordan, who was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team on Monday, was an offensive force in the middle of MSU’s lineup, batting .307 with 47 hits, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .397, while making 34 starts in left field, four in center and three at designated hitter.
It took Mershon a while to crack MSU’s everyday lineup after battling offseason injuries, but once he took over shortstop for Lane Forsythe, Lemonis couldn’t afford to give him days off. Mershon, who was named SEC freshman of the week after MSU’s series win at LSU, batted .280 with 23 hits, 20 walks, and five RBIs, with an OBP of .427, mostly batting in the leadoff spot.
Highfill went through his growing pains this season as a freshman catcher, but proved he could handle the position on a game-to-game basis. Highfill batted .231 last year, tallying 28 hits, nine homers, 28 RBIs, while adding 32 assists, a fielding percentage of .995 and only two errors behind the plate.
By the end of the season it felt like the innings were catching up to Cijntje as his starts were ending quicker, but still showed effectiveness with life on his pitches from both arms. Cijntje finished with a 8.10 ERA, pitching 50 innings, allowing 45 earned runs, 12 homers and striking out 63 in his first college season. His best start came in a six-inning outing against Lipscomb in March, when he struck out eight and only allowed one earned run in a winning effort.
Siary and Tapper both showed at times they could be go-to arms next season out of the bullpen. Siary pitched 28 innings, allowing 22 earned runs, eight homers and striking out 28. Tapper came on strong late in the season for MSU, finishing with a 4.76 ERA over 22 2/3 innings, allowing 12 earned runs and striking out 23.
2. One more year of Hunter Hines
Hines followed up his 16-homer freshman season with one of the best hitting campaigns in program history. Hines, who was named an All-SEC first team player this season, batted .297 with 60 hits, 61 RBIs and 22 homers, third-most in the SEC this season, and was only seven off from Bruce Castoria’s single-season home run record set in 1981.
Hines’ .683 slugging percentage finished 13th in the SEC. His 61 RBIs finished seventh, tied with Ole Miss’ Kemp Alderman.
The next step for Hines is cutting down on some of his strikeouts, after fanning 64 times last season, third most in the conference. But barring any surprises, Hines will be back in the middle of MSU’s lineup again next season, providing an instant-run scoring threat every time he’s at the plate.
3. A healthy pitching staff
MSU’s pitching staff has had a myriad of issues over the past two seasons, mainly with walks and the lack of strike-throwing, But the group’s health hasn’t helped the issue, either.
The Bulldogs lost seven pitchers to injuries at various portions of the season, including: Pico Kohn, Stone Simmons and Brooks Auguer, who missed the entire season with a UCL injuries; Loftin, who pitched 26 innings during his true freshman season, but missed the final two months with an arm injury; Nate Dohm, who missed two weeks with an arm injury suffered at Auburn; Cade Smith, who missed most of March with an undisclosed injury; and Landon Gartman, who was in-and-out of MSU’s weekend rotation.
The expectation is for most of those arms to play major roles in MSU’s pitching staff next season. But that won’t stop Lemonis from potentially adding arms from the transfer portal, too.
4. A new pitching coach
Speaking of MSU’s pitching staff, that group is still without a full-time coach since Lemonis fired Scott Foxhall at the beginning of May.
Following MSU’s season-ending loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, Lemonis said he is looking for the right fit when it comes to his next assistant coach.
“We are just looking for an elite guy that has worked with high-level arms that can not only develop a pitcher individually, but the staff as a whole,” Lemonis said. “A group that is tough, chiseled, competitive and the individual development from day-to-day is huge.”
The expectation is for the search to go into the NCAA tournament, as Lemonis noted some potential candidates are still playing this season.
5. Recruiting
One of the big selling points for keeping Lemonis as head coach going forward is the fact that MSU’s recruiting is still humming along strongly.
MSU’s 2023 recruiting class ranks ninth in the country, with three top-100 commits. 2024’s class currently ranks sixth in college baseball with seven top-100 commits and 2025’s class currently ranks 13th in its early stages with three of the nine total commits ranked in the top 100.
Looking closer at the incoming class, the two prized pieces are shortstops, Colin Houck and Dylan Cupp.
Houck, from Liburn, Georgia, is more than likely never going to arrive in Starkville, based on the fact he will potentially be a first-round selection in this summer’s MLB Draft.
Cupp, from Cedartown, Georgia, could end up being MSU’s starting shortstop next season, if Amani Larry decides to begin his pro career and Mershon gets moved over to his more natural second base spot.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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 41 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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion