Toughness, Tenacity And Another Huge Series Win
April 23, 2022 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
Bulldogs weather adversity to defeat Ole Miss again.
OXFORD – Only a few short minutes had passed on Saturday since Mississippi State's Brad Cumbest had delivered what would prove to be a game-winning home run that helped send the Bulldogs to a 7-6 triumph and series victory over instate rival Ole Miss. The outfielder affectionately known as Mule shortly and succinctly tried to put into words what he'd just experienced.
A quick recap: Mississippi State trailed. Mississippi State came from behind to lead. Mississippi State saw the lead slip away in the ninth, only for Cumbest to hit the homer heard 'round the Magnolia State.
It was back and forth. It was up and down. It was topsy turvy. In the end though, the Dawgs won again, and this is how Cumbest summarized it.
"We just keep playing the game," he said. "Toughness. [Head coach Chris Lemonis] talks about it all the time. Toughness wins."
Toughness is one of those things that's easy to talk about having. It's simple to know you need it. It's a completely different thing to put it into practice.
Starting last weekend at home against Auburn and carrying forward to the last three days in Oxford, the Bulldogs are now proving they've been listening to the sermons preached by Lemonis.
The State leader wants toughness. All those in maroon and white are saying, 'Amen,' putting their heads down and digging in.
Need proof? Well first, there was the series win against Auburn a week ago as the Bulldogs had a resounding response following a few games against LSU that didn't go as hoped.
Then came the set against the rival Rebels where State's toughness and tenacity were on full display over and over and over again.
The Bulldogs fell on Thursday night, then found themselves in a quick 3-1 hole on Friday. It was then when State starting pitcher Preston Johnson started laying the never-give-in groundwork for the next 24 hours or so.
Johnson had surrendered three first-inning long balls on his first four pitches of the night. Rather than crumble, Johnson rolled his sleeves up and got to fighting.
"A lot of kids just tuck it and run at that point, and they come out of the game and somebody else pitches," Lemonis said. "I told him 'You're the old guy. Show them how it's done.'"
Johnson did just that. He threw four more innings and gave up just one more run. It allowed the Bulldogs the time to get the bats going as MSU rallied and eventually pulled out a 10-7 triumph.
Oh, but these resilient Dawgs weren't done showing off just how tough they've become.
How about Cade Smith? The State Saturday starter surrendered a first-inning homer himself, but in the vein of Johnson, didn't allow another Rebel run until the fifth. By that time, the Bulldogs had already put four runs on the board.
MSU had itself a 6-2 advantage in the sixth when Ole Miss put together a rally and cut the MSU lead to 6-3. The Rebels had the bases loaded and only one out, looking to do more damage. Then, it was Jackson Fristoe's time to shine and show his own heart.
The sophomore reliever entered and got the Dawgs out of trouble. Fristoe allowed an inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly but notched an inning-ending strikeout to keep State in front.
More guts. More heart. More toughness.
"We've been challenging our guys about playing tough and competing," Lemonis said. "They couldn't have done a better job."
Then there was KC Hunt. Talk about tough. Hunt threw 54 pitches on Friday. But with the game on the line Saturday, there was no way he was going to shy away from a chance to get back to work.
He made his intentions known earlier on Saturday.
"I came to the ballpark [Saturday] thinking [Hunt] wasn't pitching," Lemonis said. "He was the first one to come up to [pitching coach Scott Foxhall] and said, 'I'm good. I'm ready to go. I want to pitch.' We still debated it. Then we get to the ninth inning, and he runs out there."
Hunt kept the Bulldogs alive and forced extra innings as he retired both batters he faced in the ninth, keeping the score knotted at 6-6 after Ole Miss had hit a game-tying two-run shot earlier in the frame.
Hunt described his mindset this way: "I knew I wanted to go back out there after [Friday] night. I just wanted to put it on the line for the boys a little bit."
The grit of Hunt led to the heroics of Mule. In the 11th, after a scoreless 10th from Hunt and with the score still even at six apiece, Cumbest saw a slider he liked and sent it well beyond the left-field wall at Swayze Field.
"I hit it and knew it was gone," Cumbest said with a grin. "It felt pretty good."
Those in maroon and white were thrilled. Well, most were anyway. Hunt was in the dugout too focused to fully enjoy the moment. He knew there was still work left to do. There were still three outs to get.
"I was trying to find my inner Landon Sims a little bit," Hunt described as he paid tribute to the dominance of his teammate who's out for the season with injury but built quite a reputation for himself a season ago for how he was automatic when it came time to lock down a win.
Turns out Hunt did Sims proud. The Rebels went down in order in the 11th. The Bulldogs celebrated a series win on the field of their instate rival.
MSU has now won each of its last six series against Ole Miss. The Bulldogs have defeated the Rebels in 18 of the last 22 meetings overall.
All the State success has been nice, but the last couple of wins over Ole Miss this weekend have been especially sweet.
Why? Well, it's illustrated how this year's Bulldogs continue to grow and evolve as a team.
"We got punched in the nose pretty good early this season and it took us a while to respond but these guys, they're invested," Lemonis explained. "They're coming to the ballpark every day ready. We've had trials and tribulations and they just keep fighting through it."
If the Bulldogs wanted to make excuses, they certainly could. If anyone wanted to dwell on all of this year's potholes, well it'd perhaps be understandable. The hurdles have been many.
But the Dawgs keep on jumping them. They keep on fighting. They just keep on. And the plan moving forward is to keep on keeping on.
It's just what tough teams do.
"Words can't describe what this weekend means for this team," Cumbest said. "The way we competed last weekend and then roll it over to this weekend, man it's just something we need to carry over weekend to weekend."
