Speaking at a Kiwanis Club of Starkville luncheon on Jan. 23, just before the first official weekend of preseason practice, Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis was forthcoming about the Bulldogs’ need to rack up wins early in the season before MSU’s gauntlet of a Southeastern Conference schedule begins in mid-March.
Nine games in, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing in a pivotal season for Lemonis and the Bulldogs. Despite playing entirely at home so far against four opponents who finished last season outside the top 100 in the RPI rankings, MSU sits at 5-4 with a little more than two weeks left until the SEC opener against defending national champion LSU.
The Bulldogs are coming off a pair of lopsided wins, taking the rubber game 10-2 against Georgia Southern on Sunday and then overcoming an early five-run deficit Tuesday for a 19-6 victory over Jackson State. Whether those performances are a sign that MSU is breaking out of its early-season funk remains to be seen, but the Bulldogs will need to put some distance between themselves and the .500 mark before the start of conference play.
Power outage holding offense back
MSU has cleared the outfield wall at Dudy Noble Field just five times through nine games, and two of those home runs came in the season opener against Air Force. Three have come off the bat of Dakota Jordan, including a two-run blast Tuesday against the Tigers that traveled 427 feet with an exit velocity of 110 miles per hour, landing high up the batter’s eye beyond the fence in center field.
Outside of Jordan, MSU’s only long balls have been Bryce Chance’s go-ahead two-run shot in the seventh inning on Opening Day and Amani Larry’s leadoff homer last Wednesday against Austin Peay. Hunter Hines, who hit 22 home runs last season and 16 the year before, has been very good at the plate in the early going in 2024 with a .378 batting average and .465 on-base percentage, but 14 of his 16 hits have been singles.
The Bulldogs were held without an extra-base hit in their first loss to Austin Peay on Feb. 20 and managed just four hits overall in the 3-2 defeat. In the middle game of the series against Georgia Southern last Saturday, all seven of MSU’s hits were singles as the Eagles rolled over the Bulldogs 11-4.
But while MSU’s power has not fully shown up yet, the Bulldogs have still been a patient bunch. A big part of that is players like Jordan and Hines having reputations as power hitters, leading the mid-major pitchers they’ve faced to pitch around them, but MSU is beginning to do a better job of not giving in.
In the second game against the Governors on Feb. 21, the Bulldogs drew six straight walks in the first inning, forcing in three runs. MSU’s 13-run third inning in the Jackson State game also featured three consecutive bases-loaded walks.
Weekend starters doing their job
The pitching was by far the biggest concern for the Bulldogs in 2023, when they issued the most walks in the SEC and had the conference’s worst ERA. Under new pitching coach Justin Parker, MSU has had a few blow-up games so far this month — the bullpen blew a four-run, eighth-inning lead in that second loss to Austin Peay, and Purdue transfer Khal Stephen allowed seven earned runs in less than three innings in Saturday’s loss to Georgia Southern.
But on the whole, the weekend rotation has performed adequately, if not better than that. Friday starter Nate Dohm, who made just two starts and 15 relief appearances a year ago, yielded one earned run in four innings in his 2024 debut against Air Force, then struck out 10 a week later against Georgia Southern in 6 ⅔ innings of four-hit shutout baseball.
Stephen allowed plenty of damage with two strikes in his second start, but in his first outing as a Bulldog against the Falcons, he struck out 11 batters without issuing a walk and gave up one run on three hits over seven innings. Ambidextrous sophomore Jurrangelo Cijntje has turned in two solid starts, striking out 15 over nine total innings with just three hits, four walks and two earned runs allowed.
Overall, MSU’s team ERA of 4.78 is ahead of only Florida and Missouri among SEC programs, but there have been some bright spots out of the bullpen as well, most notably Brooks Auger, who missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery but has pitched 5 ⅓ scoreless innings so far. Freshman lefty Luke Dotson has tossed 3 ⅓ innings in two appearances without giving up a hit.
The Bulldogs will be truly tested for the first time in a neutral-site game next Tuesday in Pearl against Southern Miss, a team that won 46 games last year and was one win away from reaching the Men’s College World Series.
The SEC slate features road series against No. 2 Arkansas, No. 4 Florida, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 9 Vanderbilt, so MSU’s starters and relievers alike will face steep challenges before long. But if the Bulldogs’ bats warm up with the weather and the arms can hold their own against top competition, MSU just might be able to find the groove it needs to return to the postseason.
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