Justin Parker has rejuvenated Mississippi State baseball's pitching: 'He reeks of confidence'
PEARL — Mississippi State baseball had been in that spot not long ago.
It came at Dudy Noble Field on Feb. 24 when Georgia Southern jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Bulldogs struggled to respond. They could only string together a multi-run inning once. The pitching − behind newly-hired pitching coach Justin Parker − couldn’t keep things close, allowing another seven runs in the middle innings.
Mississippi State (9-4) was back in that spot Tuesday at Trustmark Park. This time, it was against a better opponent. Southern Miss (8-5) is fresh off hosting a super regional.
However, the result was different. The Bulldogs did enough offensively to climb back – with outfielder Dakota Jordan delivering a solo home run in the seventh inning to finally flip a 4-0 deficit into a 5-4 lead. The bullpen shined, delivering eight scoreless innings to secure that 5-4 victory.
“Really just keeping everything positive,” Jordan said of the team's mentality when trailing. “Keeping a positive mindset. We went down a couple games earlier in the year, and we just know that we can get in there and do whatever we’ve got to do to win.”
From coach Chris Lemonis’ perspective, that wasn’t always the case. Mississippi State lost three of its first five, and he felt his hitters were trying to do to much. They were pressing, he said.
Last season, MSU wouldn’t have had time for its offense to come along. With how the pitching performed, the Bulldogs needed a quality offense. They got that, with Mississippi State owning a .286 batting average ranking in the top half of the SEC. Still, the Bulldogs finished with a 9-21 record in conference play.
This season, Mississippi State has had time to wait for its offense. The hitters aren’t peaking yet, but the pitching appears to have arrived – even with starter Karson Ligon allowing four runs in the first against USM.
“Everybody just came out and threw strikes,” Lemonis said.
It may sound like a simple concept to throw pitches in the zone, but hearing that from Lemonis is enough to understand why the Bulldogs have improved on the mound.
Through 13 games last year, Mississippi State allowed 74 walks. In that same span this year, the Bulldogs have allowed 38.
“Seeing the pitching staff doing what they do, you can’t ask for much more than that,” Jordan said.
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While Mississippi State went into the portal to find pieces to help, such as Saturday starter Khal Stephen, much of the improvement has come from players who were retained from the previous campaign.
Left-handed pitcher Tyler Davis had a 9.13 ERA last season. Tyson Hardin had a 12.81 ERA.
They combined Tuesday to throw four scoreless innings after a 46-minute rain delay before Brooks Auger – who didn’t pitch last year after tearing his UCL in 2022 – picked up the save in the ninth.
Mechanical adjustments have been made, Davis said, but the mental strength of the pitching staff has improved plenty to lead to the success. It all points back to the hire Lemonis made in June.
“Coach Parker came in here,” Davis said. “He’s done a really good just with us. He reeks of confidence. That’s kind of where ours comes from.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State baseball, Justin Parker shine vs. Southern Miss
