Mississippi State Baseball wraps up fall World Series
Team Goat wrapped up the Mississippi State Bulldog baseball fall World Series on Monday night with a 4-2 victory over Team Cheese. Before the final game, Chris Lemonis met with the media to discuss player development throughout the fall and the challenges this new team faces.
Connor Hujsak takes center (field) stage
Among the highlights of the fall has been returning outfielder Connor Hujsak. Hujsak transferred in from VCU before last season and wound up in the dugout more times than not during last year’s campaign. Now, though, with production to replace in the outfield, Hujsak has stepped up to the plate – both literally and figuratively.
He had his best night of fall ball at the plate on Sunday night, going 2-4 with two home runs measuring 112 and 105 mph off the bat, respectively. Hujsak has always been talented at the dish, but with only 42 at-bats on the year last season his appearances were too infrequent to get into any kind of groove – hence the .238 average.
Lemonis thought that Hujsak was a goner this summer, but he decided to stay, and the coaching staff and team are better off because of it.
“You know, he and (Bryce) Chance, I wish I could have traded them for pitchers last year,” said Lemonis referencing the pitching struggles of last season. “Going into the spring, we had too many outfielders and not enough on the mound.”
Hujsak has played well defensively, too. According to Lemonis, he’s a natural center fielder. I’d be willing to bet that’s where he starts out the spring, too, but this go-round he’ll be a part of that starting nine.
Dakota Jordan still bleeds maroon and white
Dakota Jordan entered his name in the transfer portal for a brief moment during the offseason and caused most Bulldog fans to either lose sleep or years off their life in the process due to stress. However, Jordan quickly withdrew his name after talks with the MSU coaching staff, and he spoke about those conversations on Monday.
“I just love this place,” said Jordan. “I had all the talks with all the coaches, and I just told them ‘I love this place.'”
Lemonis echoed with his satisfaction in Jordan’s decision, as any time you can keep a player like Jordan in-house, it’s a good feeling.
“I think it lasted about 12 hours,” Lemonis said of Jordan’s portal entry, “and he had reached out to us and just said ‘coach, you know, I grew up here. This is my home’…but he’s such an identity of this program, and I think (getting him back) was huge.”
Things aren’t all gravy
There are still concerns with the bullpen. Stone Simmons coming back from injury is a huge plus for this pitching staff, and new pitching coach Justin Parker has spirits within the staff way up. Simmons, in particular, had a glowing review.
“I can’t even begin to describe coach Parker,” said Simmons. “He is unbelievable. He is certainly one of the best pitching coaches I have ever seen in my life. He has turned this pitching staff around.”
In the World Series, all starters, for the most part, played well through the four innings the staff was allowing them to throw through. On top of that, several guys had an uptick in velocity, namely Jurrangelo Cijntje. He was hitting 98 mph from the right side, and apparently has added another pitch from the left side.
However, there were some low points. Several relievers came in and struggled with placement, and with no Pico Kohn to begin the season, there are still plenty of innings up for grabs for guys like Simmons or freshman Reilly Byers, a guy I thought showed some promise.
Fall ball isn’t over for the Bulldogs. They’ll have one more intra-squad scrimmage on October 20 before suiting up against the UAB Blazers on October 21. Both games will be held at Dudy Noble Field.
