From Unreal To Reality
May 22, 2024 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
State’s Tuesday night heroes all have come so far in a year’s time.
HOOVER, Ala. – "It's unreal."
Those were two of the first words out of Mississippi State's Connor Hujsak's mouth late Tuesday night after delivering probably the biggest Bulldog home run in three years.
If you fell asleep, how about a quick catch-up session? MSU was down to its final out against Ole Miss in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Hope had all but faded for the Dawgs and a trip back to Starkville appeared imminent. But with a runner already on third, Hujsak took a mighty swing at a 94 mile-per-hour fastball and deposited it deep beyond the left-field fence at The Hoover Met setting off a wild celebration that'll surely be remembered for years to come.
The highlight-reel hack kept State's NCAA Regional hosting chances very much alive and well. It ended the rival Rebels' season. And given how it appeared the evening was about to end much differently, it did indeed all seem unreal.
Unreal really is the best word to describe it all. Not just for Hujsak and his heroics, but for the others' performances that played such a critical role in pushing State into a showdown against Texas A&M on Wednesday night.
There was Brooks Auger, starting the game on the mound for State and pulling off his best 2021 College World Series Will Bednar impersonation. Auger hurled eight dominant innings, allowing just a run and three hits. He struck out 13 Rebels.
"He was awesome," State head coach Chris Lemonis said in what might could be classified as an understatement.
Auger didn't walk a batter. In fact, he hardly threw a ball outside the strike zone. Of his 78 pitches, 66 were strikes. It was masterful.
Remember, all this came from a young man who missed the entirety of last season due to injury. As he worked his way back, nights like Tuesday's had to have been hard to even envision. Well, it happened. It absolutely had to seem unreal.
"These kids work so hard and then you get to see them enjoy a moment like [Auger's]," Lemonis said. "He means so much to us and he's carried so many roles so humbly…He's done everything we've asked for and he works his tail off. He deserves a night like [Tuesday's]."
The Bulldogs that followed Auger to the bump and kept the Rebels at bay boasted unreal stories of their own. Relievers Tyson Hardin and Tyler Davis both had ERAs north of 9.00 last season. But this year, under new pitching coach Justin Parker, the two have become remarkably reliable bullpen arms. Hardin's ERA this season is now barely above 3.00. Davis' is at a miniscule 1.19.
Their strong campaigns kept rolling against the Rebels as Hardin recorded the first couple of ninth-inning outs. Then, with two on and two away, Davis entered and ended the threat with a huge strikeout to strand the Ole Miss runners.
"I told [Davis], 'That was a huge pitch,'" Lemonis shared.
Just the latest of many from him and Hardin. State wouldn't be in the position it's in this season without them. It's highly unlikely many would've called that one 12 months ago, but here Hardin and Davis are shining and adding to the things that are unreal.
Then, of course, came Hujsak. This is the same Hujsak that, in 2023, started only six games for MSU and batted .238. This year, he's turned himself into perhaps State's best hitter in SEC play. However, he'd missed a couple of weeks of action entering Tuesday dealing with a back ailment.
A just-recovered bad back and a two-week layoff likely isn't the ideal recipe for a cut that'll live forever in the minds of the Maroon and White faithful, but on this particular evening, it was the perfect mixture.
On that last, fateful pitch of the ballgame, Hujsak swung and…
"I was trying to keep it simple, looking for the fastball," Hujsak said. "I got it at the belt and…I didn't miss it."
He sure didn't. Unreal.
Only the crazy thing is, all this is in fact very real. Reality now has Mississippi State right in the thick of things in Hoover, fighting for both an SEC Tournament title as well as home postseason games.
Hold on to your M-over-S hats. If Tuesday was any indication, the fun has only just begun.
