Justin Parker and Karson Ligon put finality on Mississippi State's baseball season

As the season came to a close on Sunday night with Mississippi State’s 5-2 loss against Florida State, the Bulldogs had to reflect on a rollercoaster of a campaign.

MSU finished the year 36-23 but came back from a 7-14 SEC record to make postseason and get to within a couple of wins of a Super Regional.

Interim head coach Justin Parker and Karson Ligon discussed the last month, the loss to Florida State and distractions around the team during the Regional.

JP: “I thought our guys were tough as nails today. We started early in the morning and had a quick turnaround. We came up short obviously, but I’m proud of the effort and love every one of these guys. Sometimes you end up on the other end of it, but big time warrior efforts from guys that were on fumes a little bit. We came up short to a really good ball club.”

Q: Karson, you battled through some dangerous moments early. What did you think of your efforts today?

KL: “I think we all knew that today could be our last game as a team. We were all just fighting as hard as we could to do what we could for the team.”

Q: Park, how do you manage the in between of the games today?

JP: “Honestly, our focus was soley on the first game. There wouldn’t be a second game if we didn’t take care of the first game. It almost felt like we caught our second win between games and came out with energy and of course the environment and crowd. It was a high-level focus on the first game and the guys got a shot in the arm and got to hang out and that helped too.”

Q: Karson, why are you so emotional after this game?

KL: “It’s my last college game. I love this group and I love these coaches. It’s a special thing that we have.”

Q: Coach you’ve had to manage this team with this coaching search going on?

JP: “That’s a great question. I’ve got kids upset on the bus Wednesday and Thursday, I’ve got all kind of s*it flying around. I credit these guys for staying locked in and focused and playing for each other. I wish a lot of the rumors weren’t flying around and there was a little more patience with the process. I get it of course and we’ve been living it the last four or five weeks.

“What’s really tough is to watch these guys work the entire year, starting in late July and August. To have a chance to be in this position this afternoon and to have that hanging over us, it’s disappointing but it’s the way it goes. I do credit a lot of these guys for having the maturity and the foresight. The most important thing is to enjoy each other and have fun playing the game. I’m proud of them for how they performed, how they behaved and handled themselves.”

Q: What’s this journey meant to you?

JP: “I just credit these kids. I love these kids and would do anything for them. The relationships and the work… I told them I don’t even care how it goes, I’m just so proud of them and there’s not one more I’d rather go to battle with. Whether we’re in this situation or not, or coaching search or not or winning or not, that’s what I do it for. I’m just so proud of them. These guys as close as it gets and it’s just hard to see us finish up like that.”

Q: Karson, it felt like the crowd brought the best out of you. How did you manage that?

KL: “I had to slow myself down a little bit a couple of times because my adrenaline gets to be too much. When that happens, I lose my command. I had to really focus on my breathing and try to slow myself down for those moments.”

Q: Coach, what do you see from Ryan McPherson’s future?

JP: “I think he’s a future SEC weekend starter. He’s got four pitches, he’s got poise, he throws strikes, he’s a competitor. He’s got things he has to work on like everybody, but I see a future weekend starter in the SEC.”

Q: What was the environment like with your team with the rumors floating around?

JP: “It’s just a distraction, that’s all. It’s impossible to quantify how it impacted this weekend. Just managing personality and things where you’re trying to focus on baseball and you have to deal with other stuff. It’s just how it is.”

Q: Can you talk about Wes Mendes and the job he did?

JP: “I thought he was really impressive. Gehrig Frei did a great job first pitch of the game. I’m throwing first pitch fastball every time and so is everybody else and he did a really nice job of rebounding. He threw a ton of pitches for strikes, mixed, elevated his fastball. It’s a really good arm. He held his velocity. It felt like he fed off the crowd, he managed in and out of jams. Just a really impressive start in a big game.”

Q: What do you think happened the last couple of innings when the lead slipped away?

JP: “Both Karson and (Luke Dotson’s) last inning I thought with what we have ahead of us knowing we’re trying to win this thing, I thought I got a little greedy trying to get an extra inning out of those guys. Dotty got a runner on (in the 9^th) and I thought the right play was to go for the lead out at second and we don’t handle it, maybe the throw is a little off line. Then your back is against the wall against a good offense.

“I thought Ryan was good. I know he threw on short rest and everyone is concerned about him bouncing back. I thought his stuff was good, his poise was good, his command was good. I tip my cap – they hit him and got in good counts late.”

Q: Karson, a month ago when the coaching change happened a lot of teams would have missed the NCAA Tournament but you made it to the Regional final. What was the last month like?

KL: “It was like nothing to lose. Coach Parker did a great job keeping us together and getting us to that point. The older guys did a really good job of keeping the younger guys in check and making sure we knew what the focus was. I think we deserve to be here. We could be an Omaha team this year but we ran into a good team.”