Everything Chris Lemonis said after game one victory over Evansville

Lemonis talks Dohm’s exit, heart of the lineup and bullpen efforts in win over Purple Aces

After Mississippi State’s 5-2 victory over Evansville last night, Mississippi State Baseball head coach Chris Lemonis met with the media to discuss the team’s win over the Purple Aces.

Q: Nate Dohm had to leave a bit prematurely, what can you tell us about him?

Lemonis: Yeah, I think he had a little zinger. He was tired, just felt a little zing. He didn’t feel like it was anything major. I’m not a doctor, but if he doesn’t act like it’s a big deal I’m not going to act like it’s a big deal.

Q: What did you think of his performance, and what was the conversation like after the first mound visit before you let him try it again?

Lemonis: Yeah, I thought he was good, and they’re a really good offensive team. I’m sure you’ve seen their numbers. They jumped on some fastballs early, which I think was good for him. He had to really rely on his offspeed. The last couple of weeks he’s kind of been a predominant fastball guy but today he was able to basically pitch all four pitches.

Q: When runners are on, it seems like Nate really bears down. Is that just who he is?

Lemonis: He’s an ultra competitive kid. Even when we were taking him out he was like ‘coach, I’ve got to go back out there,’ so he is a competitive kid. He wants the ball, he wants to pitch on Friday night, and he’s pitching good. We talk about it all the time. They’ll get a hit here and there, but it’s hard to get too many, and he just keeps competing.

Q: What was the strategy in the seventh with all the different pitchers?

Lemonis: Well, we were trying to get to the lefty to get the lefty out, and that didn’t work. Then we went to the righty. When you come out in the inning and you walk a guy then hit a guy, that’s what starts the inning. It’s not the hits. I thought Luke Dotson came in and did a really good job, matched up on their lefty. I thought Tyson Hardin did a good job. Once again, they’ll get a hit or so, but he pitches out of it. We’ve got to come out of the bullpen with some of the guys and attack the strike zone.

Q: What’d you think of DJ’s approach today?

Lemonis: I didn’t know he was going for a cycle, but he’s been really good the last week or so. He’s kind of made some changes in his stuff, and Hunter has too. Hunter hit another hard ball tonight, another big hit. I think those two guys are coming along and we’ve got to get a couple more to come along with them. You know, that game tonight should have been 8-1, and we’re saving our bullpen. Unfortunatley, we leave first and second no outs, we leave second third and one out. Good baseball teams expand the game there. Not even with a hit, just a couple sac-flies. If we have a couple sac-flies, Brooks Auger is fresh for tomorrow and everything else. It plays things through the week, and we’ve just got to do a better job.

Q: How rewarding is it to see Jordan and Hines drive in so many runs like they did tonight?

Lemonis: It was great. I know how hard they’ve worked. I know how this game can be tough at times. It’s just big ears for both guys. They want to get out to great starts. They probably didn’t get out to what they thought was a great start, but they’re starting to really hit, and when they do, we’ll really take off as an offense.

Q: With the rain all day, how much did you guys want to get this one in?

Lemonis: Well, we had about 1000 calls to the office today. I shut my phone off. I told my kids at 8 o’clock this morning that it was going to be sunny tonight at 6, because it’s hard. Mentally, you’ve got to prepare the kids. They walk around all day like ‘there’s no way we’re playing.’ Their parents say that. The fans say that, and by about 5:30 today, the sun came out, we took the tarp off and we were ready to go. No outside BP, no in and out. I’ve done this long enough. I don’t think anyone thought we were playing, but we needed to play today. I mean, you saw that everyone in the SEC played today, because SEC play starts next week. Every SEC team was playing today. They were playing at 11 in the morning. They were moving games everywhere to get them in, because you want your Friday night guys to throw.