Everything Chris Lemonis said after Mississippi State's Saturday win over South Carolina

Mississippi State is trying to fight its way back in SEC play after a 1-9 start and the Diamond Dawgs were able to take a step forward on Saturday.

Five home runs and a shutdown bullpen performance from Chase Hungate allowed State to get an 11-4 win. The victory evened up the series and gives the Bulldogs a chance to take its first three-game set in SEC play this year.

After the game, head coach Chris Lemonis talked to the media about the win, the pitching performance from Evan Siary and Hungate, State’s offense and more.

Question: What did you think of the offense after yesterday’s game?

CL: “I thought they responded. I thought there were some big swings. Noah (Sullivan) and Ace (Reese) in the first, Joe Powell’s really opened it up and gave us a chance to breathe a little bit. Then I thought we had the ability to separate ourselves from them. Chase Hungate obviously does a great job and gets us the hold, but we just played some offense in those other innings to separate yourself to get away from damage.”

Q: What did you think of Reed Stallman coming off the bench today?

CL: “It was really matchup. We changed over to matchup and just got the matchup right. He had a couple of big swings and then made a great play (in the ninth). I say matchup but really it was just the time of game to play defense. Gehrig (Frei) hasn’t played out there much and Reed is a better defender. We’re just going to mix and match them and see how it goes.”

Q: What’s the status of MIkahi Grant right now?

CL: “Mikhai is no longer with us. He’s kind of left for personal reasons and he probably won’t be back this year.”

Q: How big has Ace Reese’s addition been for your team?

CL: “It’s been huge. And he has a tendency to get big hits in big moments. When he hits, it helps us win games. Some guys get them when the score’s big, but his are usually when the game is on the line. I thought he had a couple of big ones and the base hit in the first was huge just to get him going.”

Q: For the few grumblers in the fanbase talking about Stallman getting thrown out at third, can you take us through that play?

CL: “I’ve got to stand behind my coaches and my players, right? But I’m all over Reed because he slowed down at second. That play is on the player. Reed already knows, I’ve already told him that the play is right in front of him. With one out, you have to try to make that play at third base and he just slowed down. (Kyle Cheesebrough) was waving him and that little slowdown probably cost him five or six feet.

“When that ball is in left center, that’s the player’s play. We’re fighting to get to third base with one out at that point. Give them credit, they make that play. But if he doesn’t slow down, Noah Sullivan could have done it and Reed is a better athlete than Noah.”

Q: What are the conversations with you and coach Justin Parker about Evan Siary and his role?

CL: “Last week against LSU, he got tired in the fourth. This week, he throws that fastball away and they got a couple of those in the air. We wanted to go with the sink. He actually was 92 (mph) in that last inning and I think he could have finished (the fifth inning). I thought he was stronger this week than last. Hopefully we can keep extending him.

“You have a good pitching plan with the pitching coach and the guy can execute the pitching plan, that’s kind of what he’s doing right now. He’s throwing three or four pitches for strikes.”

Q: Has Gatlin Sanders nailed down second base?

CL: “He’s nailed that down. We have to play defense. That’s the biggest need of our team right now and that’s where Gatlin has jumped ahead of guys. He’s just a very steady player and does a lot of things offensively you probably don’t notice all the time. He’s just a really solid baseball player that’s playing defense.

“We have so many sinker ball players. Ben Davis is a sinker ball pitcher and you’ve got (Kevin Mannell) and Hungate so you’ve got to be able to pick those ground balls up.”

Q: How do you feel about the bullpen going into Sunday after only using Hungate?

CL:  “I feel great about it, but I think South Carolina is probably the same way. I think they threw a bunch of their young guys today once we took the bigger lead. We need Karson (Ligon) to give us a good start out of the gate and we have a handful of guys to help us nail it down.

“We were going to run another guy out (Saturday) but then we said let’s just keep Chase up in case we do get lightning. It’s amazing all the different things that go into play in the middle of the game. Chase was good from start to finish. He really competed in the zone.”

Q: How big was this win for the team’s confidence?

CL: “We had to get the monkey off of our back. It’s been weighing them down. It’s been a tough two weeks of playing. Last night you can tell that we just tried too hard. Relax and play the game. Enjoy the game for the reason you play the game and I thought they did that today. Evan and Chase let you do that too. Those guys came out and pitched great.”

Q: You had the error in the first inning but didn’t let it snowball.

CL: “Yeah when you go out there and lose two video reviews in the first, it’s not good. The message has been about responding and Joe Powell goes out there and makes a great play to end that (first) inning. I thought Joe Powell played great today. Really good behind the plate, threw well and just had some great at bats. He had one later in the game that he hammered right at somebody. I was just really pleased with the way he played back there.”

Q: It’s been a tough weekend for Dylan Cupp. What are you seeing from him?

CL: “Pressing a little bit. He’s such a good thrower. He’s a high-level thrower, he’s just had his feet in the wrong spot. Now he’s starting to think about it a little bit. I thought he made a great play up the middle, but on the one today he was caught in between. He’s so good throwing across the field, I wish he would had taken that ball to first base last night knowing the runner. He had a huge hit and I’m glad he got that hit for him because he’s had a couple of tough at bats this weekend. But he’s our guy out there for us.”