STARKVILLE — Justin Parker learned that he would be in charge of the Mississippi State baseball program for the rest of the season just after lunch on Monday.
Athletic director Zac Selmon approached Parker, in his second year as the Bulldogs’ pitching coach, and told him MSU would be firing head coach Chris Lemonis that afternoon and promoting Parker to interim head coach. Parker had little time to process the news — the Bulldogs are still in the running to make the NCAA Tournament, and they had a game the very next night against Memphis.
The baseball portion of Tuesday was by far the easiest part of Parker’s day. MSU had struggled to put away the Tigers in the teams’ first meeting in Memphis, but the Bulldogs scored three runs in the first inning and put the game away with a 10-run fourth, cruising to an 18-5 victory in seven innings.
“It’s kind of status quo for the most part,” Parker said. “We have good players, we have good coaches, their vision is good, their message has been good. I felt like consistency in that regard, just from what we’re doing preparation-wise, was important. The guys got a breath of fresh air tonight and went out and played really free and easy and played really well.”
Parker called the game a “trial run” for his new dual role as manager and pitching coach. He oversaw ace Pico Kohn’s bullpen session and delivered his message to the full team before the game. MSU elevated Bobby Austin, its coordinator of player development, to the on-field staff as first base coach to assist with the transition.
“I will be more involved in hanging out with the position player group,” Parker said. “I plan on splitting a little bit more and using the resources a little bit more. Normally I’m very locked in on the pitching only.”
Two-way player Noah Sullivan was sharp in his latest midweek start, striking out five batters and allowing just one hit in three innings. The Bulldogs (26-19) rallied with two outs in the first, taking the lead on Hunter Hines’ two-run opposite-field double to left-center. Bryce Chance followed with an RBI single to right that brought in Hines, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances with two hits and three walks.
MSU’s pregame meeting, which would typically include Lemonis, was entirely player-led Tuesday. The Dudy Noble Field crowd gave the team a nice hand as the players jogged to the dugout from the meeting in shallow left field.
“Especially in a time like this, you really have to lean on each other that much more, not that we didn’t before,” Chance said. “It’s been a weird 24 hours, 36 hours. It’s super important to lean on each other even more, especially when we’re in meetings like that.”
Reed Stallman hit a three-run home run in the third, and Ross Highfill also went deep with two men on in the fourth. Sawyer Reeves and Ace Reese also had two hits apiece in the rout of the Tigers (16-28).
The bullpen was a bit shaky. An error by Reeves at shortstop opened the door to a four-run fifth for Memphis, and Duke Stone issued three free passes and threw a wild pitch in the seventh before closing it out. But MSU was able to end the game early and save its high-leverage arms for the weekend series against Kentucky.
“It’s extremely important to just set the tone. We need each other right now,” Sullivan said. “We have our entire season in front of us. No matter what happened in the past, we can still make a regional. We have three really big weekends, and it’s really huge to have this momentum going into the weekend.”
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