The Mississippi State University Bulldogs clinched a thrilling baseball home series victory against the University of Georgia Bulldogs, securing wins on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Saturday night’s match, however, ended in a controversial loss.
In the first win, Mississippi State effectively countered Georgia’s formidable batting prowess. Senior starting pitcher Cam Schuelke and junior pitcher Khal Stephen combined for an impressive total of nine strikeouts, limiting Georgia to just one run.
Game 2 remained tightly contested until the bottom of the eighth inning when MSU’s graduate catcher Johnny Long made a decisive play. While diving to tag Georgia’s Logan Jordan out, Long’s emotions flared, leading to a heated exchange that required intervention from the umpire. Although no physical altercation occurred, the incident prompted a lengthy review by the SEC office in Birmingham, resulting in 11 ejections and a depleted roster for Mississippi State. With this setback for MSU, Georgia capitalized and secured a home run in the ninth inning to clinch the win.
“Not one of those kids that got kicked out were aggressive,” Lemonis said. “They weren’t aggressive. Nobody started a fight. They are coming off the field to congratulate a teammate and my entire lineup gets taken out. Somebody is interpreting the rule from somewhere else. That’s not the right way … I’m really pissed because we’re in the fight of the SEC race. What’s happening in between the lines for the student-athletes, you don’t get to see because of some silly rule. And then we’re just going to subjectively pick and choose what we want to do and what we want to enforce.”
Lemonis and Mississippi State Athletic Director Zac Selmon worked tirelessly through the night to reinstate as many players as possible. Selmon tweeted, “After hours of thorough dialogue and facts presented, our entire roster will be available to play today with the exception of [Johnny Long] and [Logan Kohler].”
Despite everything that had occurred in the past 12 hours, Mississippi State showcased resilience on Sunday, mounting an impressive comeback from a 5-0 deficit to secure a 9-8 victory. Such determination will be crucial as they navigate the remainder of their challenging SEC schedule, particularly with an upcoming showdown against in-state rival Ole Miss in Oxford this weekend.
MSU junior outfielder Bryce Chance expressed his enthusiasm about the upcoming series.
“Yeah, we are excited. I’ve been waiting three years for it,” Chance said. “This is good, but that is the big one. It is something to look forward to when you come to play here.”
Mississippi State will start their series versus Ole Miss at Swayze Field in Oxford Friday at 7 p.m. The rival matchup will be broadcast on SEC Network.
