Everything Chris Lemonis said after the three-game sweep of Queens

It was a relatively mundane weekend for Mississippi State baseball in terms of drama, and that’s a good thing.

The Diamond Dawgs followed up a 1-2 weekend in Houston last week by sweeping the four games in Starkville this week. The last three were dominant wins over Queens that allowed head coach Chris Lemonis to get a lot of game action for his players.

MSU won the final game 9-3 on Sunday and the coach was mostly pleased with his team’s effort. Aside from some wild pitches and passed balls, Lemonis came away feeling good about the wins and he spoke to the media about it postgame.

Question: You got three quality starts from your starters this weekend. How did you feel Karson Ligon did and the rotation as a whole?

CL: “We got three great starts and I thought Karson was really good (Sunday) – looked mechanically back where he needs to be. Felt like after that first inning he got into a real flow of the game and just pitched. He had some really quick innings which was nice to see.”

Q: Aaron Downs is on a tear and Gehrig Frei gets a chance and he’s hitting. It looks like you need an extra position out there to get these guys in the lineup.

CL: “Yean an EH – the extra hitter. (Jake Gautreau) has done a great job with those guys having them ready. We have a lot of guys that are competing right now and some that are in the dugout. It’s nice to have.”

Q: Tough inning for Cade O’Leary in the ninth with the wild pitches and passed balls but he got three strikeouts. How did you think he handled his first appearance?

CL: “I thought he was fine. His pitch is his curveball and he couldn’t find his curveball. I don’t know if it was windy or the first time pitching. He kept fighting which I like to see. The two hits were both soft contact hits. I don’t like the messiness. I don’t care if it’s a wild pitch or a passed ball, it’s not clean baseball and we’ve got to fix that. He competed and that’s what I like to see.”

Q: How did you think the defense played as a whole this weekend?

CL: “I told the team after the game that we played really good defense all weekend long. Sometimes we punch out 18 guys and there’s not a lot of defense to be played but with Ben Davis and Karson, there’s a lot of ground balls. We played really well. Lukas Buckner came off the bench and made some tough plays look easy.”

Q: What are you seeing out of Sawyer Reeves?

CL: “He’s good. I think he’s played a good short stop too. Looks like he’s getting comfortable. Those first couple of games he just didn’t look comfortable and I don’t know if it was change of venue or what but he gave us some really good at bats up there.”

Q: How much did it ease the bullpen and starters ahead of next week to not have to overwork guys.

CL: “This is the toughest week of the year from a managing standpoint with me and (Justin Parker). I think this weekend helped us. Everybody got a little bit and we got to stay health. We got Cade and Duke (Stone) out there this weekend. We’re probably still going to see Nolan (Stevens) and Noah (Sullivan) pitch some. These games are important in the midweek (vs. Old Dominion and Nicholls State). They’re momentum games and we have to continue improving. It’s a big deal to go down and play on the coast. We have a lot of fans down there and we want to put out a good product.”

Q: You elected to move a couple of guys around on the weekend with the starters. Do you fell comfortable with that rotation?

CL: “Yeah, I do. It can always be a work in progress depending on who we’re playing and how you match up. I think one of the strengths of our team is our bullpen. We might see a guy open a game and give it to the bullpen. But I feel comfortable with where we’re at.”

Q: How important is it to play the games in Biloxi?

CL: “Since we started it, it’s been a good series. We’ve had some really good games down there. It’s packed. I always tell our guys when we play in Pearl and play in Biloxi, some fans this is the only time they get to see you all year long. Little kids are there so we spend more time to sign autographs and say hello and appreciate our fanbase.

“A lot of them watch us on TV and it gives them an opportunity to see us in person. It’s a good atmosphere for us to play in. Everywhere we go, it seems like we set the records for crowds and the Biloxi Shuckers tell us that it’s their biggest crowds of the year which we take a lot of pride in.”