Chris Lemonis offers first thoughts on Missouri matchup
The Mississippi State Bulldogs will take on the Missouri Tigers in their final series of the 2024 season. The Tigers find themselves at the bottom of the SEC East division and second to last in the conference. However, Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis is not sleeping on his next opponent, nor is he overlooking them in the slightest.
Ahead of Mississippi State’s three-game series against Missouri, Lemonis shared a few thoughts on the matchup. The Bulldogs skipper also revealed his message to his ball club when it comes to these storylines surrounding the postseason.
“You know, I haven’t watched them a lot, besides what I’ve seen during the year,” said Lemonis. “Everybody in this league is good. And they’re still playing for a lot. I know it; I’ve been that team before. Our goal is just to play. Like I told them all week; I don’t care about scenarios and [the] tournament. All we can control is between the two lines… our goal is to come out and just play really good baseball against Missouri.
“It’s gonna be a tough weekend, it’s not easy. We played Auburn who’s not in and every game with Auburn felt like the dog fight. I mean, this league has so many talented players and talented coaches that aren’t going to let their team just quit playing; they’re going to come in here and battle us for everything.”
Mississippi State does have an opportunity to earn at least an opening-round bye If they sweep Missouri and get a little help along the way. However, Lemonis does not want to seem fixated on that; rather, he wants them to handle their business, play good baseball against the Tigers and let the chips fall as they may.
Lemonis ‘really pleased’ with bottom half of Mississippi State’s lineup
Mississippi State is quickly approaching the postseason, and the Bulldogs are rounding into form at the right time. In particular, the bottom half of the order has been heating up of late.
That could carry the team as the SEC Tournament looms and NCAA Regionals lie beyond.
“Yeah, our bottom half’s been good over the last week, so I’m really pleased,” coach Chris Lemonis said. “Ethan (Pulliam) had a big game on Sunday. Joe (Powell)‘s hitting a little bit. “Loko” (Logan Kohler)‘s been really good. I mean he hit a ball hard. I don’t know if he had any hits tonight, but he had a couple good at-bats where he really stung some balls. I feel like we’ve got the normal Logan back.”
Pulliam is indeed coming off an excellent game in the series finale against Arkansas. He went 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBI. Powell’s coming off a 4-for-4 night with six RBI against North Alabama.