Postgame Quotes: Eastern Michigan (March 12)

2021 Mississippi State Baseball
Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. Eastern Michigan
March 12, 2021

Head Coach Chris Lemonis

Q: What did you see from Christian MacLeod tonight?
CL: He was really sharp tonight, as sharp as I've seen him in a long time, and it was nice to see him bounce back and respond [after last week's start]. He's one of the more talented pitchers in the country. I told the team; we all face some little ups and downs as seasons go on with adversity. When you bounce back from it, it makes you a better player. I think that's what we're seeing with Christian right now. All three pitchers were working tonight. The low was there; command was there. I don't ever care who we're playing; when you pitch like that, you're going to have some success.

Q: How well do you feel that Lane Forsythe has moved into the shortstop position and how he is contributing offensively?
CL: He's way beyond his years in terms of defensive ability. He can really defend. It's exciting to see what he's doing offensively right now. He's spent a lot of time working with Coach [Gautreau] and working on his swing. He's also spent a lot of time since he's been on campus in the weight room with Coach [Seth] Diters. He was a kid who showed up here and we laugh at his picture when they show it on the scoreboard right now because it doesn't even look like the same guy when he showed up here in August. You're seeing all of his hard work coming true. He put some really good swings on balls tonight. But the defense doesn't surprise me but watching his growth as an offensive player is a lot of fun.

Q: How were you excited to get Brayland Skinner on the plate tonight?
CL: He's kind of working his way back in. He's only supposed to have one at bat and then we had the long eighth inning, so he got another at bat, but we're bringing him back slowly. He can play defense. He can base run. He can do some things. He can swing, but the guy's coming back from a hand injury. You just want to take it a little slow and be cautious. The key is you've got to get him back in the mix with everybody but everybody else has been seeing it for weeks. [We are] getting him back in some right spots, but we're excited. I mean, you saw the speed. Even the last play of the game, he's a really good defensive outfielder. He'll be a big edition once he's back full go.

Q: Have you seen anything like you've seen with this pitching staff?
CL: No, it's been impressive. We have a really good pitching staff. It's hard to score against us. We can match up with you in a lot of different ways. Right now, the game is playing us the right way. I give a lot of credit; we've shored up a little bit defensively. They don't give us too many opportunities to make plays, but when we've had to make plays, we've made some really nice plays over the last week. It's the game of baseball, so you can never figure it out. I do think a lot of it is we've got guys pounding the zone with power stuff. We're running Parker Stinnett out there. That's about as good as it gets sometimes. That was a really good inning from him out there tonight.

Q: Coach, they always say hitting is contagious. Do you get the sense that pitching is contagious in your guys right now?
CL: Definitely. That's why your Friday night starter is always so important. Going into weekends, usually if you get a good start, it seems like everyone else falls in line and pitches well. I think our other guys, Christian [MacLeod] has seen that and Eric [Cerantola] has seen that. They've been working their tails off to get back out there and compete and pitch to the level of what they're expected to. I was proud of him tonight. Like I said, it's been a tough week. He responded and worked his tail off. He came back out and really competed for us.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Eastern Michigan (March 12)

Players Mentioned

Lane Forsythe

Christian MacLeod

Brayland Skinner

Parker Stinnett

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