Postgame Quotes: Louisiana-Lafayette (March 10)
March 10, 2021 | Baseball
2021 Mississippi State Baseball
Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
March 10, 2021
 Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
March 10, 2021
Head Coach Chris Lemonis
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Q: Another effective night from Houston Harding, what was working for him? What did you like from his start?
CL: I thought he moved his fastball around a lot tonight. He was really up and down and in and out. He is mixing that change-up in there. He has been giving us some really competitive starts lately. It is fun to play behind him when he pitches.
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Q: How would you access where your pitching is right now?
CL: I think we are starting to figure out some real roles. We have everybody back, everybody has been out there ... A big piece of it is we are playing much better defense. Getting our guys out and playing good defense, even though we could have been better tonight, I like our defensive efforts the past few nights.
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Q: Friday and Saturday starters were struggling last week, seeing the zeros on the board, what can help them going into this weekend's series?
CL: It's what's happening with our whole team. Guys are building off the confidence. The more success we have the more momentum [we get]. It's just easy to keep it on our side. Our pitchers are feeding off it right now. We usually get a pitchers [batting practice] for a shutout and Spencer Price say he's is going to be hitting all week after tomorrows practice. I hope nobody pulls a muscle during that. They have done a good job.
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Q: Do you feel like Preston Johnson, when it comes to SEC play, is a guy you can rely on?
CL: Like you saw tonight, he is a big piece [of our pitching staff]. Coming out of spring training we thought he was going to be a big piece and he was a little bit behind because he wasn't with us that first week. He is as good as anybody we have. He is locating that fastball and mixing his pitches. It's heavy, it's like he is throwing a bowling ball up there at times. It has been impressive.
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Q: How do you feel the sixth inning came together for you?
CL: I thought the Rowdey Jordan walk [was a big part]. A lot of our innings are starting with making somebody throw a ball in the strike zone and really competing. Good base running and making different things happen. Tanner Allen stealing brought more pressure. Getting good at bats. That was a really good arm for Louisiana-Lafayette and I thought Luke Handcock did a really good job staying in there on him.
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Q: What are the chances of Houston Harding getting a chance on the weekend?
CL: It's always an opportunity. We are going to pitch our best on the weekend. He has been one of our best. It hasn't just been the last two weeks. Houston had a great pre-season, a great fall. We asses [our team] every week and try to figure out where we're at and what gives us the best chance to win on the weekend. As we start to move into SEC play, we will have to sit down and look at a couple of things. Right now, for us, in these midweek games Houston is throwing against some though opponents. Last weekend was Southern Miss and this week it's Lafayette. Next week we're playing against a really good Samford team. They are all non-conference this time of year and we are just trying to match up in the best ways and get some quality wins.
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Players Mentioned
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