Chris Lemonis recaps a 'disappointing' finale against Alabama

After taking the first two games of the series against Alabama, Mississippi State struggled to replicate the sense of urgency on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs got down 8-1 in the game and couldn’t get back in it with a 10-5 loss. It was still a series win for State, but left a bad taste in the mouths of the Bulldogs.

After the defeat, Chris Lemonis spoke to the media about the frustrating loss.

Question: What was your assessment of the game today?

CL: “Disappointed. We just didn’t show up locked in ready to go. We gave up six freebies with HBPs and walks. I know we had two errors and I feel like we made four of them. You could easily look up and say six of those runs shouldn’t have been on the board but we gave them opportunities in those spots. I just think we’ve got to make those plays. Two bad base running plays. Just not real mindful stuff today.”

Q: What’s going into the base running mistakes?

CL: “You get a pickoff on a steal attempt. That’s just aggressiveness, maybe not a great read. The one the other night with Amani (Larry) is a tough one and he flips it to third, which most guys don’t flip to third. Today we had a tough one and we’ve had some tough ones the last couple of weeks. It’s focus level. Just being focused and understanding what’s going on. We’ve got to be better.

Q: You’ve wanted to have that sense of urgency with this team about winning every SEC game. Is that your concern with this team?

CL: “That’s every coach’s concern. You’re dealing with 18-22 year olds and they get excited. They went, ‘hey we got the series,’ and they just don’t understand the importance of everything – of taking care of business. You’re really making up for (a game) you goofed down the road. I think that’s the hardest part and it’s on me. It’s my job to make sure they’re motivated and understand that, but it is a frustrating day not to come out and be locked in like we should.”

Q: Take us through Brooks Auger’s outing.

CL: “I’ll be honest with you, it’s been a while since we haven’t had a really good start – somebody getting us five or six (innings). It pushed the game in a different direction. He just wasn’t good. I don’t understand. He’s been really good for us lately but it wasn’t a great outing for him. He couldn’t command early today.”

Q: You had another good day from Logan Kohler offensively. Is this the player you guys expected?

CL: “I think so. He’s always had the power – he’s hitting 10 or 12 (home runs) every year. The fact that he didn’t have much power the first half of the season was a shock to us, but he’s swinging it well right now.”

Q: You had a meeting with the team in the fourth inning to get their emotions right. What was that meeting like today in the fifth inning?

CL: “I was pissed in the fifth when I met with them so I probably just spewed my emotions on them. The message was that you have half a game left to play and crazy things happen in this league. You’ve got to want it more than them and that’s the challenge. I thought Alabama did a great job today. They’ve been a little bit undermanned, a little bit under the weather, and they wanted today. They really wanted today. They knew how important it was.

“I challenged our guys that you’ve got to want it more than them. It doesn’t always work that way but I’m trying to motivate them. I thought we did play the last half of the game a lot better than the first half.”

Q: What’s your schedule look like this week?

CL: “We’ve got exams so we have a ton of tests tomorrow and Tuesday so we don’t do too much. Probably lift a little weights, take some light BP, have a really good practice on Wednesday, a really good practice on Thursday there at Arkansas and get ready to lock horns. It’s going to be a great series. Arkansas is one of the top teams in the country and probably number one if they could just play at home. They’ve been really good at their home field so we have to go up there and get us some.”

Q: What are your thoughts on Arkansas?

CL: “They can really pitch. They arguably have maybe the best pitcher in the country in Hagan Smith and all three of their starters are really good and they pitch good in the backend. I’m sure they’re really comfortable pitching at home. It’s a veteran offensive group that have won a lot of games and know how to play winning baseball.

“I don’t think they’re putting up two touchdowns every game, but they can move the ball, they have some guys that can hit it out of the park, they play really good defense. They just play winning baseball.”