STARKVILLE — If there was something that was missing from Mississippi State baseball last season, it was pitching.
The Bulldogs posted a 7.01 team ERA in 2023, a season where nothing seemed to work out on the mound, from the starters to the bullpen.
However, three games into the 2024 season, a newfound confidence in the starting rotation has already arrived thanks to a trio of solid starts against Air Force.
“There’s a little bit of an attitude,” head coach Chris Lemonis said. “There’s a lot of strike-throwing. That’s the big piece, just being aggressive and being in the zone. … I thought they really showed out this weekend.”
It was a new-look weekend rotation with familiar faces for Mississippi State as Nate Dohm slotted in on Friday, Purdue transfer Khal Stephen followed on Saturday and switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje rounded things out on Sunday.
Both Cijntje and Dohm come into this season looking to build off their 2023 seasons at MSU while Stephen is looking to parlay an All-Big Ten campaign last year into the Southeastern Conference.
Like clockwork, the trio delivered.
Dohm and Cijntje each threw four innings in their starts, allowing three combined runs and two earned runs, and Stephen had the start of the weekend, striking out a career-high 11 batters over seven innings of one-run, three-hit baseball on Saturday.
One weekend is too early to tell if this will continue, but it’s a great sign for Bulldog fans to see production in an area that hasn’t seen much in recent years.
“Getting out on the field and being in the atmosphere that’s here, being able to get used to it in there in the first inning was something pretty cool for me,” Stephen said. “… When I came here, that is what I wanted. I came here to prove it. The conversation we had was business-like, but you earned this spot.”
As Jordan and Hines go, so goes MSU
Pitching definitely had question marks coming into the 2024 season, but it was clear that the Bulldogs had plenty of offensive firepower.
As was the case last year, many are expecting the offense to carry the load, and two players in particular, Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines, are the duo set to lead the charge.
Jordan, a freshman All-American and Hines, a first team All-SEC selection in 2023, got out to a fast start in 2024, each recording five hits and multiple RBIs over the weekend.
“I feel good,” Jordan said. “I still feel like there’s way more to improve. I feel like I could have done way more damage, but a pretty good weekend overall.”
Jordan highlighted the duo, hitting a pair of homers, including one to help break open Sunday’s game as Mississippi State went on to win, 10-2.
Hines’s best game came on Sunday as well, a 3-for-5 performance with a double, RBI and three runs scored, but what both provided, batting second and third in the order over the weekend, was protection for the rest of the lineup to rake.
“We’ve been here,” Hines said. “We’ve done it. We know what it takes, so we just try to lead the group and try to get wins.”
Right behind them was Bryce Chance, who had himself a weekend as well, smashing the go-ahead homer in Friday’s 8-4 win over the Falcons and tallying four RBIs to go with a 5-for-12 (.417) series at the plate.
Saturday was the outlier during the weekend, a tough 3-2 loss where runs were seemingly hard to come by for both teams, but scoring 20 total runs over three games showed that this offense picked up right where it left off in 2023.
“I feel like the team just took a deep breath,” Jordan said. “Everybody is experiencing The Dude and how everything goes. … Everyone is just relaxed now.”
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 43 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 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
