Golden Graham
February 25, 2023 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
Yntema’s strong start paves way for a Bulldog bounce-back win.
STARKVILLE – Make no mistake about it, Mississippi State was in need of a lift. Well, who better to do the toting than a 6-foot-4, 230-pound lefty with a ton of talent?
With his team needing to bounce back from a tough Friday, Graham Yntema came through for the Bulldogs in a big way on Saturday. The sophomore southpaw started on the mound and tossed five strong innings to lay the foundation for a 5-1 MSU win over Arizona State.
"I just wanted to give the team a good start and throw a lot of strikes," Yntema said. "I knew that was something that could [win]. Watched a lot of [Arizona State] film. I knew a lot of the weaknesses they had and just tried to go against those and help us out."
Yntema studied, then went out and aced the test. He surrendered just three hits and one earned run. He struck out six and, crucially, didn't walk a single Sun Devil.
"I thought he was great," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said of Yntema. "It's not overpowering stuff [that he throws]. Our kids hate hitting off of him [in practices]. He keeps you off balance and holds the running game…He's a three-pitch guy and is just kind of funky."
The spark Yntema provided the Diamond Dawgs can't be understated. His competitiveness and grit kept the game close and allowed the MSU bats to go to work with a little less pressure than there's been at times early this season.
"We've been chasing it a little bit and been behind in some games," Lemonis explained. "We're a young team in a lot of ways in terms of guys just getting out there and playing. So, getting out there and playing from behind [like we've done some has been difficult]. Some of our guys are still getting their feet wet in terms of giving us some really good at-bats."
Yntema certainly aided Bulldogs young and old by giving them the chance to grip the sticks a little less tightly. After Arizona State scraped across its lone run of the day in the second inning, Yntema put the clamps on the Sun Devils and his own offense soon delivered.
MSU tied things at 1-1 in the third when Amani Larry got a base hit, took second on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI single by Colton Ledbetter.
The Bulldogs then exploded for four runs in the fourth. Lane Forsythe delivered a two-run single to make it 3-1 State. Larry and Ledbetter then came through again with run-scoring hits of their own to round out the rally.
Ledbetter credited Yntema keeping the game close for providing the atmosphere for MSU's offense to do its damage.
"It definitely frees us up to swing at whatever we like," Ledbetter said. "Especially when we get up in counts. It helps us swing easier."
Yntema undoubtedly made life calmer for the defense and bullpen as well. The Bulldogs played errorless baseball. Evan Siary and Nate Dohm followed Yntema to the hill and combined for four shutout innings.
It was by any measure a great day to be a Bulldog. Lemonis thought so as well, confirming so by his answer to a reporter's query on if this was State's best-played game of 2023 to this point.
"Oh yeah, by far," Lemonis quickly responded.
Time will tell if the Bulldogs can keep the momentum from Saturday, but it's undeniable Yntema has given his club a chance to get something going.
"[Keeping this up] was the challenge [to the team] afterwards," Lemonis said. "You get a big win and we haven't been playing great, so the kids are excited. But in 12 hours we show right back up. We haven't played two days back-to-back of really good baseball yet. So I told them, 'Good teams play consistently daily.' That's the challenge, is to hang out with their families [Saturday night], don't get too excited, and get a good night's rest so they can come out here and compete [Sunday]."
