Postgame Quotes: Missouri (May 13)

2021 Mississippi State Baseball
Postgame Quotes
Mississippi State vs. Missouri
May 13, 2021

Head Coach Chris Lemonis

Q: What are your general impressions of how the night went?
CL: An ugly win is better than a good-looking loss, I guess. We started out kind of rough. We didn't help Christian [MacLeod] in the first [inning]. Christian had good stuff in the first, had to throw a bunch of pitches, and just came out and they were on him. I thought the rest of our bullpen did a great job. Brandon [Smith] and then Preston [Johnson] and obviously Landon [Sims] at the end. When we don't play well, we still have an opportunity to win because of the way we pitch, and our kids stay invested. We usually try to wait to get something going in late and we did it again tonight.

Q: How critical was it for getting the lead with two base runners on?
CL: Sometimes you're just opportunistic because it's a three-two count on the play and everybody's running. We got a head start – just the right time, right place, right ball. Most of the night, I felt like we were hitting balls right at them. We finally had a ball hit in the right spot for us and we were able to score a couple.

Q: Has Preston Johnson surprised you with how big of a piece he's become with your bullpen?
CL: Coming out of spring training, I kind of knew he had a chance to be really good. He kind of had a slow start in the spring, but he has really good stuff. Not just the velocity on his fastball, but when you get down on his analytics, he's got really good stuff. He's a big piece there. He's had some really big innings for us this year. We need more out of him. I told him already that I'm going to need him again this weekend. So, he's got to re-cycle and get ready to go.

Q: You're the fastest coach to get 100 wins in Mississippi State Baseball, does that mean anything to you?
CL: It means we've had great players and I've got a great staff. When we win, it is so little about me. Rowdey [Jordan] was joking with me after the game and said, 'You came here at the right time, coach.' I laughed and said, 'Yeah, it's a good time.' We have. This is a great program and just keeping it moving forward is our goal as coaches. I have a great staff around me. We've had some special players and we will continue to have special players.

Q: What was the dynamic like without Coach Foxhall?
CL: With Fox being out, we let [Logan Tanner] call the game himself. Fox worked with LT and Christian today, watched hitters and did everything during the day, and LT called his own game. I thought it was pretty clean. The only piece that we probably left out is we usually call a lot of pickoffs, and we probably didn't pick enough early. We started calling picks from the dugout ... So we needed to do a better job at that, but Fox will be back tomorrow. I give LT a lot of credit. He is super talented and probably our most cerebral player. He'll coach one day because he knows the game so well. Putting it in his hands wasn't a real stress for us.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Postgame Quotes: Missouri (May 13)

Players Mentioned

Preston Johnson

Logan Tanner

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