STARKVILLE — Butch Thompson would have sacrificed almost anything to get Dakota Hudson.
The former Mississippi State baseball pitching coach went to see the right-hander pitch for his Sequatchie County High School team one night in a game in Dunlap, Tennessee, which is right outside of Chattanooga. Coaches from four other Southeastern Conference teams were there that night, so Thompson knew it was going to be a challenge to get Hudson to become a Bulldog. He left not knowing what Hudson was going to do, but he received a call from Hudson halfway back to Starkville and Hudson gave him a verbal commitment.
As soon as Thompson got off the phone with Hudson, the transmission in his Chevrolet Silverado quit working and left him with one gear. He couldn’t go above 10 mph and finally arrived in Hamilton, Alabama. The first thing he saw was a Chevy dealership. He then called his brother, who drove more than 40 miles from Amory to pick him up and drive him back to Starkville.
“I was so happy,” Thompson said of Hudson’s commitment. “I never saw that car again. I left it there and never went back to get. But we got Dakota, and that was the main thing.”
Thompson, who was hired as the new Auburn coach last October, will get to see Hudson and the rest of the Bulldogs this weekend when No. 3 MSU plays a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Auburn. Game 1 will be at 6 tonight (SEC Network+). Game 2 ill be at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network). The series finale will be at 1 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network+).
Hudson (7-3, 2.80 ERA), a junior, will start tonight against junior right-hander Cole Lipscomb (2-3, 5.02). Junior right-hander Austin Sexton (5-2, 3.66) is scheduled to go senior right-hander Justin Camp (3-3, 3.58) Saturday. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher for Sunday’s game.
“We had a pretty good relationship,” Hudson said. “A lot of my development, especially the mental aspects, came while he was here. To be able to go on and build from there was huge for me. Getting to see him will be good for me, but I’m going to wait until after we take care of business.”
Hudson was roughed up as a freshman and was used out of the bullpen as a sophomore. He became the ace of the pitching staff in the fall.
Dallas Baptist pitching coach Wes Johnson replaced Thompson, and Hudson and Sexton have thrived under his tutelage. Hudson said he was concerned at the onset, but he has found Johnson to be a good teacher. But Thompson laid the groundwork for where Hudson and Sexton are.
When MSU coach John Cohen was hired to lead his alma mater in 2009, he brought Thompson over from Auburn. Thompson spent seven seasons putting the Bulldog pitching staff on the national stage. He played an integral role in helping MSU reach the 2013 College World Series national championship series in Omaha, Nebraska. At MSU, Thompson coached the likes of Chris Stratton, Kendall Graveman, Jacob Lindgren, Jonathan Holder, and Chad Girodo, who all were taken in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft.
“Butch was a huge hand in recruiting and working with a lot of our players,” Cohen said. “It’ll be unique. He’ll know our tendencies, and we’ll have to disguise some things a little bit better than we normally do.”
MSU (34-14-1, 15-9 SEC) has won five in a row, including a sweep of Missouri last weekend. Auburn (22-27, 8-16) has lost four of its last six, including a series to Alabama.
Thompson said he stays in contact with Cohen on the phone and through text messages, and feels like he can reach out to him whenever he needs something.
After finishing 24-30 and missing the postseason last season, MSU is in line to be a national seed and is poised to get back to the College World Series. Thompson feels like MSU has exceeded expectations, but he knew the Bulldogs were going to be a solid team because numerous returning players earned valuable last season and key freshmen and junior college transfers have provided key contributions.
Thompson said he and Hudson cried when he left MSU, but he said he spent three to four minutes with each pitcher before he departed to make sure there was closure.
Thompson and Hudson said it will be unique to play against each other, but they are both looking forward to it.
“When I watch them on TV it’s strange,” Thompson said. “Being with those guys in the recruiting process on through, you just want to see them do so well. It’s not the case this weekend. You follow them and you root for them.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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