STARKVILLE — Tyler Fullerton was asleep at home in Tennessee when the phone rang.
At first, he thought a joke was being played on him. But when the Mississippi State University freshman outfielder noticed coach John Cohen had called, he quickly realized he had received the call he thought would never come.
Fullerton, who was planned to redshirt this season, was home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., visiting friends and family during spring break when his phone rang.
“I had fallen asleep watching a movie on television and I woke up to (freshman right-handed pitcher) Jonathan Holder calling me asking me, ‘Hey, are you on your way back yet?’ ” Fullerton said. “I told him to quit messing me and I saw coach Cohen had called me and then it was for real. It was totally unexpected.”
The call was unexpected for Cohen, too. But three injuries to outfielders forced Cohen to call Fullerton.
“We told (Tyler) it would probably take three outfield injuries for him to get on the field,” Cohen said. “Not because of Tyler’s obvious talent, but because of the depth and experience we had coming into the season in the outfield.”
The third injury came two weeks ago against Mercer University when sophomore Taylor Stark attempted to stretch a single into a double. Not only was Stark unsuccessful, but his slide into second base produced what he called “a pop” in his hamstring. The injury pushed Stark to the disabled list with sophomore center fielder C.T. Bradford (shoulder) and senior outfielder Brent Brownlee (knee).
Fullerton drove the 280 miles and nearly five and a half hours Sunday back to Starkville to make the team bus ride to Hammond, La., for MSU’s first road games of the season against Southeastern Louisiana University.
Tyler’s mother, Lorie, wasn’t ready for her son to leave home from break so soon.
“My parents were picking up my sister from her soccer game and I called them while they were already in the neighborhood to say, ‘Taylor got hurt, coach called, and I had to go back,” Fullerton said. “My mom said, ‘So I guess you’re not staying the whole week?’
“Everything was packed up, so I just threw a couple pairs of clothes in a bag and gathered up all my baseball stuff to make the bus. I was nervous, but not as bad as I thought I would be.”
Fullerton was a first-team All-State performer as a senior in high school after hitting .500 with 31 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He said the biggest change he has encountered is the speed of the game is so much faster.
The whirlwind experience came full circle 11 days ago when Fullerton started in left field 11 days ago and hit eighth in the lineup in his first game. In his second game, the 165-pound right-handed hitter went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored.
“I’m just trying to do what I can in the circumstances that have come up here,” Fullerton said. “My job is to find a way on base, whether that’s a walk, hit or get hit by the ball. I have to figure out a way to do that.”
Lorie Fullerton and Tyler’s sister and grandmother will make their first trip to Dudy Noble Field this weekend to watch Tyler play.
Fullerton went 0-for-4 Friday in an 11-2 victory against No. 3 University of Arkansas to drop his batting average to .333. He has an RBI, two walks, and a perfect fielding percentage in left field.
“You have to make the most of your opportunities, and it helped knowing the guys believed I could contribute,” Fullerton said. “It doesn’t matter if I was supposed to be redshirted. We all deserve to be here, and we know it.”
Cohen and the MSU coaches couldn’t be more pleased with the confidence of their new starting outfielder.
“We understand and hope to get our experienced guys back as soon as possible, but after not having any experience in our first 16 games, Tyler has been nearly everything we’d hoped for,” Cohen said. “That’s the thing about injuries to guys in front of you. They do provide opportunities for other players to show what they can do.”
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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 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
