STARKVILLE — Mississippi State’s pitching staff continued to toss heat.
Inning after inning. Zero after zero.
MSU’s flamethrowing bullpen, one that head coach Chris Lemonis said boasts as many as 15 players who’ve touched 95 miles per hour this offseason, flashed its stuff as it combined for five perfect innings and held Jackson State to two hits in the Bulldogs’ 7-3 home-opening win over the Tigers.
After two innings of hitless ball from starter Brandon Smith followed by a pair of perfect frames from freshman Davis Rokose, the Bulldogs carried a collective no-hitter into the seventh inning before Jackson State finally found a hole. With four wild pitches and three errors on the day, MSU slogged through the latter stages of Wednesday but turned in its first win at Dudy Noble Field since March 8 of last year.
“Mississippi State baseball — it’s like Christmas Day on opening day in Starkville,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. “You just don’t get this in a lot of communities. Everybody was fired up.”
MSU has made a living on demolishing midweek competition since Lemonis arrived as head coach in 2019. The Bulldogs bludgeoned all 14 of their midweek opponents during his first season in Starkville, before going 1-1 in such games during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign.
Wednesday added a new layer to MSU’s recent dominance in midweek contests.
Rolling through his first inning of work, Smith struck out two of Jackson State’s first three batters while sitting in the low 90s with his fastball — a welcome sight as he continues to work his velocity back to the 92-93 mph range he found pre-injury.
Third baseman Landon Jordan recorded the first home web gem of MSU’s young season to keep the no-hitter intact in the second inning. Sprawling to his right, Jordan dove full-stretch at a chopper off Jefrey Rodriguez’s bat. Corralling the ball, Jordan leapt to his feet and rifled a one-bounce toss to first baseman Josh Hatcher to catch Rodriguez by mere inches.
With Smith still working back from Tommy John surgery that ended his 2020 season prematurely, the Bulldogs turned to Rokose in the third inning. Redshirting last spring, the second-year freshman flashed impressive swing and miss ability as he rang up four Tiger batters in his two frames of work.
“I thought I pitched pretty well,” Rokose diagnosed postgame. “Definitely could’ve tweaked some things, done a little better, but it was just great to get out there for the first time and get my feet wet.”
Mikey Tepper, like Rokose, earned his first outing of the young season, though he proved more meandering than his predecessors. After a 1-2-3 fifth inning, Tepper surrendered the first Jackson State base runner of the day when he fumbled a bouncing ball just shy of the mound. Two stolen bases, a walk and an error by Hatcher at first base gifted the Tigers their first run of the night.
After former East Mississippi Community College hurler Chase Patrick recorded the final two outs of the sixth inning in relief of Tepper, Jackson State first baseman Chenar Brown walked, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches from second-year freshman K.C. Hunt and scored on a squeeze bunt by Marshal Luiz the following frame.
With Brown plated, Wesley Ruiz drilled a fastball from Hunt into center field for Jackson State’s first hit of the contest to break up the no-hitter.
Freshman Xavier Lovett and fourth-year senior Jaxen Forrester followed Hunt to put the finishing touches on MSU’s first home victory of the season.
Second-year freshman Kamren James paced the MSU offense Wednesday after an 0-for-13 start to the year at last weekend’s State Farm College Baseball Showdown. Finishing a triple shy of the cycle, it was James’ belted two-run homer into the Left Field Lounge that sent the Bulldog faithful into a frenzy during Wednesday’s first inning.
“That homer definitely felt good — first at-bat back at The Dude.” James said through a grin. ” We didn’t get to play in front of all the fans like we usually do, but rounding the bases, I could hear the crowd. It was still loud.”
With capacity at Dudy Noble Field limited to 25 percent due to SEC and state COVID-19 protocols, the stands sat more empty than the usual home opener as MSU’s monument to college baseball opened for business. And while the familiar hazy grill smoke from the outfield boxes was dimmer than years past, Wednesday represented the return of baseball to one of the sport’s most storied venues.
For the first time in 353 days, baseball was back at The Dude.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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