Opinion: Mississippi State Baseball Must Return to Form in 2025

The Bulldogs must get back on track in 2025.

Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis watches from the dugout against Ole Miss at Swayze Field in Oxford, Miss., on Friday, Apr. 12, 2024. / Bruce Newman/Special to the Clarion

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Coming into the 2024 Mississippi State baseball season, expectations were pretty low, and rightfully so. The Bulldogs finished at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference in 2022 and 2023 after winning the program's first national title in 2021. 

The falloff was unprecedented for MSU head coach Chris Lemonis's program, especially considering that State returned six starters from its national title team and had a solid core of the pitching staff. However, the 2022 team sustained injuries to arms like Brooks Auger, Stone Simmons, and Landon Sims, the planned ace of the staff. 

With those setbacks in mind, nobody could have expected the season's eventual outcome. Even before the injuries, State lost a series to Long Beach State, a game to Northern Kentucky, and was embarrassed by Southern Miss in a 7-1 loss.

Something felt off about the squad because even though it was loaded with players who contributed to the national championship, the results on the field didn't match the talent. It was dreadful as the Bulldogs finished the season 26-30 overall and 9-21 (SEC), dropping their last 11 conference games and an embarrassing 27-2 loss to Tennessee at Dudy Noble Field.

However, most believed the program was still in good shape, especially considering the wonders the transfer portal can do for a roster. Lemonis signed a good transfer portal class that included Colton Ledbetter (Samford), Landon Gartman (Memphis), Nate Dohm (Ball State), Connor Hujsak (VCU), Tyler Davis (VCU), Will Hoyle (Duke), Aaron Nixon (Texas), and Amani Larry (New Orleans). 

Expectations for the Bulldogs were not sky-high, but a positive step in the right direction was expected. It didn't happen, as the team failed to deliver again and had another abysmal season, finishing 27-26 overall and 9-21 (SEC), including seven losses by at least ten runs against league opponents.  

By then, it was clear that there were issues all over the diamond. The offense was average at best, but the crux of the problems was glaring: the pitching. The MSU staff posted a seven ERA for the season and a 9.54 ERA in conference games. The defense wasn't much better, posting a putrid .964 fielding percentage. 

Lemonis fired pitching coach Scott Foxhall and brought in Justin Parker from South Carolina. The Bulldogs also returned a very talented duo of Hunter Hines and Dakota Jordan, along with David Mershon, Larry, and Hujsak. 

The consensus before the 2024 season was that if the pitching staff and defense improved, the Bulldogs would have a chance to compete in the brutal SEC. Both of those came true as Parker led his staff to a 4.17 team ERA (12th in the nation), and the defense posted an impressive .980 fielding percentage. 

However, the offense flopped, especially down the stretch, which handicapped this team in the postseason. At 17-13, State finished fifth in the league standings and narrowly missed hosting in the NCAA tournament.  

However, issues for the past still lingered as State dropped embarrassing games to Air Force, Georgia Southern, Austin Peay (2), South Alabama, and Central Arkansas. While the Bulldogs did have a legitimate claim to host, their inability to play consistently ultimately cost them. 

Consequently, the eventual outcome was predictable. The Bulldogs lost to host Virginia in a regional final, and while on the surface, that was an upgrade from the years prior, it was still underwhelming. The Bulldogs had two of the best starters in the conference with Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje, two All-SEC first-team members (Mershon and Stephen), two projected first-rounders (Jordan and Cijntje), and a guy who is top five in the program history for home runs (Hines.) 

Once again, the season's results, while an improvement, did not reflect the talent on the roster. With each of those guys likely gone as well, the cupboard for 2025 is looking dry. MSU can work the portal to better the talent on its roster again, as that's been the case since 2022, but State's portal class thus far is underwhelming. 

The standard for Mississippi State baseball is to host, go to Omaha, and compete for a national championship. Few programs in the country have the prestige of the Bulldogs, and the new Dudy Noble Field was not built to collect dust in June. 

Since MSU won the national title, three SEC schools have claimed the prize, and programs like Kentucky and Georgia are rising. While State slipped into obscurity, its conference foes either rose up or continued to rise. 

MSU was arguably the top baseball program in the country in 2021, with five straight super regionals, three straight College World Series appearances, and back-to-back national seeds. However, now they're just another program.

There's only one way to change that perception, and it's by getting back to Omaha. 

It is a tall order for Lemonis and his staff because 2025 could classify as a rebuilding year, yet three straight years of underperforming have taken that right away. Few baseball programs receive the money and fan support that Mississippi State has. At some point, the results must match it because if not, the gap that has been created will only get wider.