Mississippi State will kick off the 2009 baseball season today at 6 p.m. against Northern Illinois. With a disappointing 2008 season to forget and a new coaching staff to help them do it, the Bulldogs have their work cut out for them on the diamond this year.
New MSU head coach John Cohen said he has been pushing the team really hard and will continue to challenge the players every day.
“I tell the players to be successful in anything you do, you have to turn something that’s uncomfortable or difficult into something that’s comfortable,” Cohen said. “That’s kind of what we’re doing right now.”
Cohen said despite more than half the Bulldogs being juniors and seniors, experience does not necessarily translate to leadership.
“We do have good leadership, but even though you have older kids, it’s almost like you have all new kids, from the standpoint that nothing’s the same. Everything is new. Everything from the signal system to how we handle bunts to how we communicate is new,” Cohen said. “I mean, for 30 years it’s been I got it, I got it, to now, it’s ball, ball, ball.”
The new skipper also has a unique outlook on team captains. There are none.
“I don’t believe in captains. I don’t want the guy who is not a captain to look to a captain. I want that guy to become a captain,” Cohen said. “I think you’re a better club when you have 25 captains. On some of my better clubs, I had a C on every jersey.”
Fans love to see the homerun ball, but due to the nature of Dudy Noble Field, Cohen said speed is more important than power.
“For whatever reason, the ball just doesn’t carry in this ballpark as well as it used to. So to set up our ballclub to win at home, which is critical, I think there needs to be more speed components,” he said. “You can hit balls really hard and a long way in our ballpark and they turn into outs. We need to use speed to chase those balls down.”
Cohen also said speed will be an important part of the team’s offense. He said his club needs to be able to hit the ball on the ground and use speed to put pressure on the defense. He said it is important for his players to hustle if they hope to compete in the SEC.
Cohen returns to MSU with a 321-197-1 career record as head coach. That span included a 146-84 mark at Northwestern State, and a 175-113-1 record as head coach at the University of Kentucky. In 2006, he was chosen as the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year by the College Baseball Foundation.
There is no doubt MSU fans are on board with the new coach and his staff. Season ticket sales are on a record-breaking pace. As of Wednesday, sales were already at 5,360 and counting. The record is 5,596, set in 2002.
Junior infielder Connor Powers was quick to confess that Cohen has gotten the team prepped for the opener tonight.
“I just want to let everybody know that as far as me personally, I’ve never worked as hard as we have in the offseason,” Powers said. “I’m sure I can speak for the rest of my teammates that none of them have. And I can promise the fans that every time we come to the field we’re going to be ready to go.”
Senior outfielder Grant Hogue said he is ready to get this season started and prove that last year is history.
“We’re excited as a team and staff to finally quit playing each other. Like Coach said, we went through a long fall and a tough spring where we had some early mornings and late nights,” Hogue said. “We competed against each other and we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Now we get to compete against somebody else, and we’re excited about that.”
This week is a great opportunity for Bulldog fans to get a feel for the new coach. Monday and Thursday are the only days the dogs aren’t on the diamond.