Like, for instance, Mississippi State’s baseball team standing in the dugout last night with belts tied around their heads and jerseys unbuttoned almost to their bellybuttons in attempt to secure an extra-innings win.
The Bulldogs did do just that, beating Missouri in 17 innings in the SEC Tournament.
Here’s where it gets funny: the last time MSU played a 17-inning game, Texas Rangers slugger Mitch Moreland got the win for Ron Polk’s team. As a pitcher.
While those of us keeping track of MSU are aware, few in the major leagues know Moreland was a pretty good pitcher for quite some time.
My favorite part: Will Cox was credited with the win for MSU over Mizzou last night. Both Cox and Moreland are Amory, Mississippi natives.
I guess if you need something finished, find someone from Amory.
Big credit to my man Blake McCollum, the guy behind the camera for much of MSU’s marketing and promotions, for tipping me in this direction. McCollum, as you might guess, is an Amory native, too.
Every year around this time, Bruce Feldman from CBS Sports comes out with one of my favorite offseason stories: his “freaks list” highlighting college football’s most impressive physical specimens by various measurements.
Inspired by his list, as well as his inclusion of Mississippi State linebacker Benardrick McKinney, I asked around about some other “freaks” Dan Mullen and Matt Balis might have on their team.
A special thank you to media relations man Kyle Niblett for helping acquire the information. Dude never sleeps. Just works and gives fist bumps.
The K.J. Wright look-a-like, McKinney weighed a wiry 216 pounds when he got to campus, but is now up to 240 with only 9.5% body fat. Two of his most impressive numbers: McKinney has a 41.5 inch vertical jump (higher than nearly every player at the 2013 NFL Combine, and beating every single receivers) and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds, faster than many receivers and corners at The Combine.
McKinney can also do 30 pull-ups at his size, can leg press 1,100 pounds and has a broad jump of 9’10″.
Gabe Jackson, senior offensive guard, 6’3″,330 pounds
For my money, Jackson might be the most impressive freak on the list when you look at his numbers. One of the main events for linemen at the NFL Combine is benching 225 pounds as many times as possible. Jackson, still in college, managed 36 reps in his most recent outing, which would’ve tied him for fourth at this year’s Combine, just two reps out of first.
Jackson can squat 630 pounds and with his 330-pound frame, he has a 31-inch vertical jump and a nine-foot broad jump. That’s a nimble lineman.
My favorite number on Perkins: he did 25 reps of the 225-pound bench press. He benched something 34 POUNDS HEAVIER THAN HIM 25 times. More numbers on MSU’s muscle man: 515-pound max squat, 400-pound max bench, 37 1/2″ vertical jump, 10-foot broad jump and a 4.45 40-yard dash.
Quietly, Love is the fastest player on MSU’s team. In fact, he may be the second fastest rookie in the NFL this year. Love has been timed on campus with a 4.29 40-yard dash, which would’ve been the second-best time in The Combine this year. Love just finished his sophomore year.
More numbers: Love squats 495 pounds, benches 305 (nearly double his weight), has a 36-inch vertical jump and a 10’2″ broad jump.
Mississippi State has had a slew of successful teams in the spring season, and perhaps none moreso than the kick-started women’s golf program.
Making the cut to get into an NCAA Regional, head coach Ginger Brown-Lemm did not fail to notice her team was considered “Just happy to be here” by at least one publication.
National Player of the Week Ally McDonald
Two weeks later, her Bulldogs are one of only 24 teams in the country still left playing. They tee off this morning at Nationals in Athens, Georgia, playing for the National Championship.
Only in her third year at the helm of the program, Brown-Lemm admits things are a bit of ahead of schedule.
“But I always believed in these girls,” she said. “I knew we could do it, and now they believe, too.”
When Brown-Lemm took over the program, it was ranked No. 127 in the country. Two recruiting classes later, MSU is in the Top 50 for the first time since 2006, checking in at No. 40 as it enters Nationals.
And those two recruiting classes are a big part of why MSU is where it is now, as well as why the future seems so promising.
State is one of only two teams playing without a single senior on the roster and is the youngest in the tournament by a wide margin, sporting three sophomores, a junior and a freshman.
Sophomore Ally McDonald is one of the rising stars not just for MSU, but across the country, the No. 15-ranked player in the nation before she even hits 21.
McDonald’s recruitment, which happened at the time Brown-Lemm took over, is a window into the type of players and people Brown-Lemm wants to build her program with.
In choosing a school, McDonald wasn’t looking for the best facilities in the country, the most prestige or the most happening nightlife.
She wasn’t trying to “get” something. She was searching for the place God wanted her.
“Coach came in at a crucial time in this program,” McDonald said. “A big thing was praying about it, trying to figure out if that was where God wanted me to be and after talking to Coach Ginger, it was like, ‘Yes, we both have the same goals. We’re both pushing and striving for the same things.’ Her mindset and my mindset were the same things.”
Obviously, Brown-Lemm looks for good golfers when she’s recruiting, but “everyone is good at this level,” she said.
To truly build a program, and build the one she wants, she looks for the right people. Who they are, not just what they can do.
In a sport where you play both as a team and as an individual, the proper mentality is as important as anything.
“I’m not gonna recruit somebody that can play exceptionally well but is incredibly selfish or egotistical,” Brown-Lemm said. “That just doesn’t fit with my personality either. I look for solid, moral kids that come from a good family, that want the same things. I’m a mom, too. I want the people that my kids hang out with on the team to be the example of what I stand for as a coach and a mom.”
Starkville, she believes, is the perfect place for such people.
“It’s a family atmosphere,” she said. “We have the best community support of any institution, but yet we have the small-town feel. I feel like we have a perfect combination of a conservative community, elite competition and we’ve got a team that functions well and really cares about each other and cares if we do well as a squad.”
The rewards of Brown-Lemm’s efforts have been reaped early, coming off the best regular-season in program history and now the first team from Mississippi to ever play at Nationals.
One of the keys to the run has been confidence, something MSU’s coach believes was gained in wild amounts by playing alongside the defending National Champions in the SEC Tournament a few weeks back.
Brown-Lemm’s first mission when she got to MSU was to breathe life into a “tired” program, and she appears to have done so.
“I want them to believe that they are the best in the land,” she said. “There are programs all the time where you think, ‘They’re a Top 20 program? They’re in the middle of nowhere.’ Why can’t it be us? It should be us. But it’s all about your confidence level and if you believe or not.”
It’s happened quickly, but the development has required at least some time and steps. Much of the confidence has been built due to the support and commitment of the athletic department, getting the Bulldogs what they needed to become players on the big stage.
“We focus in all the time on the strengths,” Brown-Lemm said. “We didn’t have a practice facility, we got one. We didn’t have a Mercedes van like anyone else in the SEC, now we got one. Now we’re looking at a new building, a new facility that is their home. That pride steps up. Now, we’re beginning to compete on the golf course with the other SEC teams. Now we’re matching them in facilities, we’ve got the little bells and whistles.”
And now, MSU is contending for the National Title.
“It just goes to show you the power of the mind, the power of a plan, the power of belief in a system,” Brown-Lemm said. “The future is so bright at Mississippi State.”
Fearless, relentless confidence and excitement can turn to pain and disappointment in the time it takes for a pitch to go from mound to plate.
A team can start a game with momentum and belief, an entire world of postseason dreams and possibilities ahead of them, only to emerge hours later with eight months of training, traveling and competing having culminated in a heartbreaking end on someone else’s field, the imagined future of hours before struck down with no chance at redemption for another eight months.
Years of work and months of games, sure, but also the temporary emptiness, leaving those you battled with behind. No practice tomorrow, no bus ride next week.
The end of a season, no matter how successful, is a mix of emotions for all but one team every year.
As tears streamed throughout the dugout in Mobile Saturday night following elimination from the regional and the end of their season, Mississippi State’s softball team felt those pangs, but not without a level of hope and happiness, an optimism for the future.
Head coach Vann Stuedeman encouraged her team, letting them know their accomplishments were meaningful and that they were a part of something bigger. The future, she believes, is promising and was built by those who were feeling the sting of defeat.
“Last year, we were close to winning one game in SEC series’,” she said. “This year, we won that game and we were close to winning the second game and clinching those series’. Then last year we went to postseason and weren’t able to get a win, and we got a win this year. It’s part of the growing and building process.”
In just two seasons at MSU, Stuedeman has made the NCAA postseason twice, making it to the end of day two in the Mobile Regional over the weekend.
Several key seniors will be gone next year, but eight of nine offensive starters return for the Bulldogs, plus ace pitcher Alison Owen who debuted for MSU this year and set the school’s single-season and NCAA Tournament strikeout records.
Getting to the postseason this year was an impressive feat for a team that played 32 of its 57 games against teams who ultimately made it to an NCAA Regional, and Stuedeman hopes the experience will carry over in the future.
“The underclassmen got a taste for the postseason,” senior first baseman Shelby Fisher said, “and it’s gonna drive them to want more and more of it. It’s gonna be in everyone’s gut.”
The sting of season’s end and the tears streaming in the dugout of the team who just beat them won’t soon be forgotten.
“Getting here and being comfortable in the postseason is always gonna help everybody,” senior outfielder Jessica Cooley said. “I know that this program is going so far, that this is just the beginning of what Vann Stuedeman is gonna do. The sky is the limit for this program. I am extremely blessed to have played for her.”
Standing in front of her team for the final time, commending the seniors, praising the effort of all and thanking them for months on end of training and work, Stuedeman choked up as she told her team how proud of them she is.
“This team has just been through the ringer,” she said. “We’ve played so many games that were so close and could’ve gone our way. It’s just part of the process and building a program.
“This team is resilient,” she told reporters late Saturday night. “I told them to make a decision to either quit or fight. Have fun or be miserable. They could be one-pitch warriors or quit on the at-bat. They made a decision to fight.”
The future appears to hold hope and success, but on Saturday night, Stuedeman was thankful for the team she had, made up of players who bought in and believed.
“I’m really proud of this team and where we started and where we finished,” she said.
Mississippi State junior outfielder Hunter Renfroe has been awarded the Ferriss Trophy, given annually to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi and named after former MSU great Boo Ferriss.
Entering his third season with high expectations and plenty of fanfare, Renfroe has delivered and then some. He leads the SEC with 15 home runs on the season and his .691 slugging percentage is tops in the league. Renfroe is batting .362 for the year and has a team-high 51 RBI.
His prowess at the plate has led to 33 walks over the course of the season, some intentional and some not, as well as a team-leading .459 on-base percentage.
Of course, his contribution isn’t solely at the plate. Renfroe’s arm is almost as feared as his bat, given the number of times he’s thrown players out from his spot in right field. Playing the position at Dudy Noble most susceptible to interference from the sun, Renfroe has still worked up a fielding percentage of .952.
With the same speed he uses to chase down fly balls, he’s managed nine stolen bases, tied for tops on the team.
In the top of the sixth inning, Mississippi Valley State leading Mississippi State 1-0, a media relations person in the press box asked if I wanted to interview anyone from the winning team after the game, meaning Valley.
Two outs for MSU in the bottom of the inning, then the Bulldogs got hot.
Outfielder Jessica Cooley, who had struck out twice in the game, stepped to the plate and drilled a solo home run to dead center, higher than the scoreboard.
Game tied at 1.
A walk and a bunt single later, Shelby Fisher came to the plate with both outs still on the board and hit a liner to left, scoring the go-ahead run and securing the final score of 2-1.
Junior pitcher Alison Owen, who threw MSU’s full game against Florida State yesterday, again pitched a complete game, only allowing one unearned run. With the win Vann Stuedeman improves to 40-1 when leading after six innings.
MSU takes on host South Alabama shortly. Follow @mstateSB and @bobcarskadon on Twitter for updates, or watch via ESPN3.com.
10 a.m., Saturday, Marriott Mobile
Bacon, coffee, fruit, bacon, toast, coffee, bacon and more coffee for breakfast.
It’s elimination day in Mobile, either win or go home, and Mississippi State plays Mississippi Valley State at 3:30 to decide which it will be.
Yesterday’s regional-opening 5-2 loss to Florida State was a bit of a shock to the system for the Bulldogs, who had been off for almost two weeks and may have let nerves get the best of them in the early innings Friday afternoon.
As we’ve chronicled here, Vann Stuedeman and the team worked on a mix of hard practice and recreational enjoyment in the days leading up to the regional. For whatever reason, the relxation turned to stress when yesterday’s game began.
“We need to go back to playing our kind of softball,” outfielder Jessica Offutt said. “I think we just put too much pressure on ourselves.”
The “our kind” of softball that got MSU this far is a fundamental brand of play, being smart, efficient and timely.
With four errors Friday, MSU got away from the fundamentals and lost a bit of the fun when the pressure Offutt mentioned kicked in.
“Softball is catching and throwing, and we just did not do that very well,” Stuedeman said. “We played 12 days ago, that was the first time I’ve seen them tight in 12 days. It just took them a minute to get loose.”
The tightness led to the errors and the errors led to the loss.
Three of FSU’s runs were unearned, coming directly from the errors, which as Stuedeman pointed out after the game, would have kept it tied.
“We should still be playing at 2-2 right now.”
Even those two runs were indirect results of previous errors, where the inning should have been over had things gone as they usually do.
Knowledge of errors does nothing to go back and change the final score, but it gives MSU a clear idea of how to rectify the problem.
“It’s mainly about relaxing, having fun and playing the game we love,” third baseman Logan Foulks said. “Be a Sandlot kinda kid and go out there and have fun. It’s not a big deal. It’s a game that we love.”
The key now, Stuedeman said, is to find a way to make sure that happens.
Make sure MSU plays with the same state of mind that got them comeback wins, blowout victories and hard-fought Ws in the regular season.
That type of play finally began to show in the final innings of Friday’s game, when the Bulldogs put their runs on the board and at one point have enough runners on the field to have potentially tied the game.
MSU’s mantra all season has been “late-game, our game.”
“It’s just a matter of taking those late innings and putting them into tomorrow,” Foulks said after yesterday’s loss.
“I feel bad for them that they couldn’t play loose and enjoy the NCAA postseason,” Stuedeman said. “They earned the right to be here. You only get four chances in your college career.”
GAMEDAY 10 a.m., Friday, Marriott Mobile
Compared to the previous two days, oddly enough, gameday is a pretty relaxed one. For the morning, at least.
At this time yesterday, Mississippi State was halfway through its first of two practices. Today? The Bulldogs just finished breakfast and are hanging out at the hotel, watching TV, messing around on laptops, getting their minds together and ready for the game.
The big game, of course, when MSU plays Florida State at 3:30 in the first game of the regional. The same FSU team which was once again eating breakfast at the same time and place as the Bulldogs. Definitely not awkward.
While gameday does bring a more manageable schedule, it also ramps up the mental game.
One way players and coaches cope: superstitions.
I asked around at breakfast – where assistant coach Beth Mullins said she’ll have the exact same plate of food tomorrow “when we win today.” If it works today, better do it again tomorrow, is the thought.
Freshman outfielder Loryn Nichols will spend most of the morning planning what she’s going to wear. Not because she’s worried about looking good on camera, but because it all has to be done just so.
“I wrap my shoelaces around the bottom of my cleats, then tie them and tuck them into my shoes,” she said. “And all my layers have to be the right colors. They can’t be the same.”
If she’s wearing white pants, it has to be black sliding shorts. Black jersey top? Maroon shirt underneath. And the bow (there has to be a bow) must be a different color from the jersey.
“But if I hit well,” she said, “I wear the same bow the next game, even if it’s the same color.”
Bow continuity takes precedent over alternating colors. Of course, if Nichols goes O-fer and doesn’t get a single hit in a game, she trashes the bow, thrown away forever.
“My mom used to get so mad at me in high school. She’d always yell at me, ‘You’re wasting perfectly good bows!’”
Doesn’t matter. That bow was bad mojo.
Sophomore outfielder Briana Bell, once at the game, doesn’t have many superstitions for what she wears, but don’t touch her bat.
“We’ll try and pick it up to hand it to her,” junior outfielder Rachel Zdeb said, “and she’ll just yell at us, ‘No! I’ll get it!’”
“Someone picked up my bat once,” Bell said. “My eyes got big and I was like, ‘Nooooooo!” and buried my face in my hands.”
Junior pitcher Alison Owen has to do what’s called “touches.” She starts at one end of the dugout and walks to the other, touching every person along the way. Tap on the shoulder, brush of the cleat, whatever is easiest.
A few more gameday rituals I was told, “Don’t put that on your blog.”
Like telling someone what you wished for on a shooting star, sharing the secret would ruin the good vibes.
More of the seemingly-innocuous decisions, but all-too-important decisions to be made before the game: thick headband, no headband, or thin ninja headband? Sunglasses? A visor? Regular ponytail, French braid or something I’ve never heard of called a fishhook braid?
I think that’s what it was called anyway. I can barely tie my shoes, let alone braid anything.
One thing that’s easy to pick out and put on for at least some of them, Nichols and Zdeb shared, is batting gloves.
“I don’t change batting gloves all year. My right one only has four fingers left on it,” Nichols said.
“My entire pointer finger is gone on one of mine,” Zdeb said.
Whatever the superstition or ritual may be, it’s all pre-game. Once the game is over, like it will be later this evening, what’s done is done. The win or loss only affects the next game’s rituals.
We’ll see if the good vibes work this afternoon.
8:30 p.m., Thursday, Marriott Mobile
Finally back at the hotel after a long day, MSU is settled in for the night, resting for the next day’s game.
The team managed to fit a lot into just one day, getting a defensive practice in the morning, a batting practice in the afternoon, a trip to the beach, a few hours of shopping in downtown Fairhope and a lovely dinner at the house of Mullins’s family to cap off the day.
Again, that’s the balance Vann Stuedeman wants. Work hard, have fun. Enjoy yourself.
But, not too much fun. Volleyball and football on the beach is fine, but don’t overdo it. After all, they’ve got a game tomorrow.
And for the love of softball, use sunscreen.
“Vann’s gonna kill me if I get a sunburn,” third baseman Logan Foulks said while retreating to the shade of a pavilion after a swim in surprisingly-warm waters of the bay.
Also, a special thank you from this reporter to Mullins’ family for the delicious dinner after the beach. Young bachelors like myself don’t often get nice home-cooked meals. We do cook meals at home, I just wouldn’t use the word “nice” to describe them. Or any other positive adjective, for that matter.
2:15 p.m., Thursday, The Fieldhouse batting cages
The above video is the first (and quite possibly the last) edition of Dr. Bob with myself junior pitcher Alison Owen. The rest of the team is doing batting practice, so as you can imagine, not a lot to do for ace pitchers.
I’m gonna see if I can get Alison to teach me how to throw a fastball later.
Also, just for fun, here’s a picture of the moment I mentioned earlier, when third baseman Logan Foulks made a diving catch over the dugout railing and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”
11:00 a.m., Thursday, South Alabama softball field
“You’re playing Major League Baseball now,” Vann Stuedeman told her team before practice. “No school, you’ve got your food money and nothing to worry about but softball. This is the dream.”
Indeed it is, playing softball by the beach, which is the kind of mentality Stuedeman wants her team to have.
“You made it to The Dance, be happy and have fun,” she told the team. “Now, there’s a difference between having fun and working hard and then just acting silly. But have fun, work hard and we’re gonna be great.”
The first practice of both the day and the trip was an all-defense outing, working on fielding, turning double plays, catching fly balls and wrangling in bunts, while the next practice, after lunch, is all about hitting.
On one of the final plays of the first practice, an infield pop-up from assistant coach Alan Reach pulled left to the home dugout. Running from the infield, third baseman Logan Foulks sprinted to the dugout, leaned over the waist-high fence guarding the inside and made a near-diving catch.
The entire team erupted in cheers, Foulks ran back to the field, threw the ball in the air behind her and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”
Absolutely, Mississippi State is having fun.
8:30 a.m. Marriott Mobile: As we’ve mentioned, the Bulldogs play Florida State in their first game on Friday at 3:30. I noticed an FSU flag had been hung by someone along the stairwell as I worked in the lobby last night.
As fate would have it, the Seminoles are staying in the same hotel as MSU.
Then, as cruel fate crept in, the two teams happened to be at breakfast at the same time today. A little awkward? Certainly.
But, it turns out several of MSU’s players know several more on on FSU’s team from travel ball in high school, and there were even a couple hugs exchanged at breakfast. But just a couple. Not going crazy with the sportsmanship here.
In fact, Foulks – she of the imaginary Regional-winning catch – had been texting and talking to her Seminole friend on the bus ride to Mobile.
Lunch is up next (sub sandwiches, I believe), then hitting practice in Daphne and a trip to the beach in Fairhope for some of that fun, fun, fun Stuedeman was talking about. She may even sing more songs from The Little Mermaid like she did during warm-ups this morning.
9:30 p.m. Wednesday Mobile, Alabama
The Mississippi State softball team has officially arrived and settled in at the scenic Marriott in Mobile for the NCAA Regional.
I’ll be with the team for the rest of the week and I’ll post updates, videos, stories and the like here, so it’ll be nice and easy to keep up with.
The bus pulled out of Starkville at 2:15, with Vann Stuedeman doing interviews by 2:30, and it being a travel day, the softball action was minimal.
The people action, however, was pretty limitless.
An interesting note on that interview, by the way, as Stuedeman was chatting in advance with the TV crew broadcasting MSU’s game on Friday: one of the women on the call happened to be Charlotte Morgan, an All-American coached by Stuedeman at Alabama.
But, after some interviews and extensive discussions among the coaches on how the full NCAA Tournament bracket might play out, the day was mostly music and food.
5:30 p.m.: Almost to Mobile, the entire staff at the front of the bus broke out into song, singing ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles. Why? I’m not sure, but that seems to be something the whole team has in common.
6:30 p.m.: On the way to dinner at the Original Oyster House after dropping bags off at the hotel, I was walking around the back of the bus trying to find out what a couple dozen softball players do for hours on end trapped on the road. There’s video of that below, in which second baseman Heidi Shape somehow managed to get the whole bus clapping and singing Mariah Carey. I’ve still got ‘Always Be My Baby’ stuck in my head, and now you probably will, too.
Also on the bus, Stuedeman announced to the team and congratulated a pair of players who earned a postseason honor, the details of which will be released tomorrow, I’m told.
One thing I forget being from Mississippi, is how many people don’t live near enough to the water to see it often.
As the team sat down with a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the bay, Stuedeman remembered what I did not.
“All you girls from a landlocked state, make sure you’re watching this sunset,” she told them. “There’s not much else this pretty.”
Much shrimp, fish and grits later, we find ourselves pleasantly stuffed and back at the hotel.
Tomorrow will be a significantly busier day, beginning with practice on South Alabama’s field in the morning, the first on-site preparations for MSU’s game against Florida State on Friday at 3:30.
Speaking of that game, the coaches and players are expecting a big crowd of Maroon and White this weekend. Sounds like it’s a nice weekend drive for some people.
After practice is lunch and then, oh hey, more practice. Hitting practice in Daphne, followed by a good three hours of beach and shopping in Fairhope. As I have little to contribute in practice, I’m looking particularly forward to that event.
Another cool, small-world-after-all story: assistant coach Beth Mullins is from Mobile, so the team is heading out to her parents’ house for dinner at the end of Thursday.
I’ll have updates, pictures and probably even a few videos throughout the day. Make sure to follow MSU softball (@mstateSB) and myself (@bobcarskadon) on Twitter, and an easy way to keep up with everything is the one-stop coverage center at HailState.com
Standing 6’2” and weighing in at 230 pounds with a mane of curly, dark hair trailing onto his shoulders, Jonathan Holder is an intimidating sight on the mound.
Just a sophomore, Mississippi State’s All-American closer is John Cohen’s near-guaranteed game-saver. Starting with his first appearance as a freshman and stretching all the way into his second season, Holder went his first 27-straight innings without giving up a single run. The 18-year-old was a star not just in the regular season, but in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regional, after just finishing his first year of college.
Holder has no fear on the mound.
Striding out of the bullpen late in the game, Johnny Cash’s slow, deliberate tune ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ rings over Dudy Noble Field as Holder approaches his workshop 60 feet from home plate.
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down
“Jonathan Holder is like an artist at work,” Cohen said. “It’s just fun to watch. A club has so much confidence late in a ball game when Jonathan Holder is on the mound for you. You feel like he’s just gonna keep the other team from scoring.”
How Holder keeps the other team from scoring, how he cuts them down from pitch-to-pitch, is a surprise to everyone watching, often including the batter himself.
One pitch may be a 94 MPH fastball down the middle, the next an 75 MPH curveball starting in the sky and finishing in the dirt.
“It’s tough,” junior outfielder CT Bradford said of Holder’s curve. “I can see it from center, I’ve got a perfect view. It starts around their eyes and ends around their ankles. It’s a really good pitch.”
Good enough, at least, that a batter for Alabama struck out swinging in the 11th inning last weekend.
And he was trying to bunt.
“He really understands how to pitch off of his fastball and his curveball,” Cohen said, “and the two are so dissimilar that if you guess on one, you’re going to get destroyed by the other. When you get as many strikeouts as he’s getting on called third strikes, then you have somebody who is commanding the baseball, and he has two separate dominant pitches.”
Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
My head’s been wet with the midnight dew
I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet
He called my name and my heart stood still
When he said, “John, go do My will!”
Holder’s game is more effective than most once he takes the mound, but it starts long before then.
His hair hasn’t been cut in over a year, adding to his already intimidating physical presence.
In the bullpen, Holder looks more like an American Gladiator than a sophomore closer. Some guys pitch, some stretch, some wind their arms to get loose in the pen. Holder instead walks to the catchers’ end of the bullpen, clearing the area of any who could be in harm’s way.
A big smile on his face, he crouches down, grabs a medicine ball, then bursts upward and throws the ball as high over his head as he can, a watchful teammate standing 30 feet behind to secure the ball on its return to ground.
“That’s just a routine I’ve gotten into that I enjoy,” Holder said. “It gets you explosive and it gets you pushing off the ground.”
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down
Cash’s song rumbles through Polk-Dement Stadium, fans rise to their feet behind the outfield fence, scouts, reporters and opposing batters look to the bullpen gate, knowing who will walk out.
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
“I was trying to get something intimidating,” Holder said. “I know last year, I didn’t even hear my walk-out song I was so zoned in. This year, I can enjoy it a little bit while I run to the mound. That’s the way I try to work. It keeps me focused and it keeps me in the zone in everything that I do.”
Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light
Holder went on a stretch of just over 25 scoreless innings at one point this season, starting after SEC play began. Through 39 total innings in 2013, he has 70 strikeouts, nearly two Ks per inning pitched. On 29 of those strikeouts, the batter went down looking. Couldn’t even get a swing across.
“Any time in college baseball,” Cohen said, “you see a guy strike out almost two guys an inning, that’s a phenomenon. That’s incredible, especially within the Southeastern Conference, where he’s faced some very, very good hitters. What he’s doing is amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this type of performance.”
Setting a single-season MSU record, Holder has 14 saves this year. The next closest person on the team has one. He’s even made long enough closing appearances to register two wins to go along with his 1.15 ERA.
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
“I’ve seen Roy Oswalt throw bullpens here in Starkville,” Cohen said, “and Roy of course at his best is one of the best in the big leagues, and watching his curveball, which at times can be 20 mph off of his fastball, it’s kind of a similar thing. That’s why he can really freeze guys. Jonathan has the ability to add and subtract with his fastball. You might see him throw an 89-mph fastball to one part of the strike zone, then throw a 93-mph fastball to another part of the strike zone. And then the same with his breaking ball. That’s what makes him special.”
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down
Underneath the hair, the goatee and the jersey, Holder has two tattoos, one on the inside of each bicep. On the right arm, “In God’s Time.” On the left, “Fear No Evil.”
Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down
On the mound, staring down batters, Holder fears nothing, and it shows.
By most measurements, 2012-13 has been one of the best seasons in program history for the Mississippi State men’s golf team.
With a program-record four tournament wins in the regular season, the Bulldogs now head to the postseason with hopes of maintaining that success.
And there’s good news on that front, thanks to the planning of head coach Clay Homan in the offseason.
Selected to play in the Baton Rouge regional, MSU begins its postseason on Thursday with a certain level of experience already under its belt having played at LSU last semester.
“That was one of the reasons we played in LSU’s tournament this fall,” Homan said, “because we knew they were gonna host a regional and there would be a chance of us going there. It should prove helpful.”
Among all else, MSU’s coaches and players already know the hotel they’ll be staying in, the road they travel to get there and even a few good places to eat.
Not to mention the familiarity with the course itself.
“There’s a lot of local knowledge,” Homan said. “The greens are real severe, it’s probably one of the longest golf courses you’ll see anywhere, but that suits our style of play.”
A style of play, Homan said, reliant on experience and maturity.
Juniors Chad Ramey and Axel Boasson were both named All-SEC at the end of the regular season, while Joe Sakulpolphaisan got to campus this season as the No. 1-rated junior college player in the country.
With four juniors and a senior, in addition to a pair of sophomores and freshmen, Homan likes tougher courses where less experienced players might lose focus or make easy mistakes.
“It starts with Chad, but our whole team tends to do better when par is a good score. That’s the kind of golf course we wanted. We want where par is at a premium, and we feel like we have that.
“We felt like this course, because it’s big, that’s a good golf course for us. It gets tougher as you get closer,” Homan said. “You’ve got lots of humps and bumps on these greens that you’ve gotta navigate.”
Ramey, as Homan mentioned, has been a star for MSU, not just great for State, but one of the best players in the conference and in the country.
He leads the teams with a 71.88 average, earning him five Top 5 tournament finishes, due in large part to his 99 birdies and three eagles over the course of the season.
Pair Ramey with Boasson, who sports an average of 72 with a low score of 67 to go along with his team-high 110 birdies, and MSU has both a strong and mature duo leading the way, with a wealth of experience and talent behind them.
“Our guys are playing with confidence. They’re even-keeled, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. We’re fortunate to have a veteran group like we have. “ Homan said. “You don’t really have to take these guys by the hand. They know how to play and what it takes for them to play their best. We may get beat, but it won’t be because they aren’t able to handle themselves.”
When MSU arrives in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs will try to escape the town the same way they got there: through the SEC. Conference mates Alabama, Florida, LSU and Tennessee will all be in the regional with MSU and the rest of the teams from across the country, and the top five finishers earn the right to play at Nationals in Georgia.
Fortunately for MSU, it’s already played against – and in some instances beaten – many of the top teams it will see in the regional.
Over the course of their big season, Homan thinks his Bulldogs have prepared themselves well for the postseason.
“We’ve already beaten Florida, we’ve already beaten LSU. With every win, we draw confidence,” Homan said. “Our team has been continually getting better each week. We’ve learned an awful lot this year and we’ve improved a lot this year. I don’t know how we’re gonna play, but we can handle a lot. This group has been through a lot.”
Calling the last few days a busy weekend for Mississippi State would be quite the understatement, and simply referring to this week’s schedule as “full” would be a disservice to the truth.
Counting football’s Gator Bowl on January 1, MSU is now up to six teams playing in the postseason in 2013 before June even hits, and it’s likely to add a seventh when baseball concludes the regular season. Not to mention the two National Champions on the track and field teams still in action.
And almost all of it is going on now, just as the weather is warming up. Gotta love it.
A quick recap of the weekend before getting into the rest of this week.
- MSU’s women’s golf team had one of the best single-day performances of any team on campus over the weekend, posting an incredible final round on Saturday to secure a third place finish in the central regional and the first-ever berth in the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Ally McDonald was a school-record 10-under par for the weekend, winning the individual championship in the regional.
The team entered Saturday tied for sixth and one shot away from postseason elimination, then the Bulldogs had the second-bets team round in school history, firing off a 7-under par day and securing a third place finish.
- In Starkville, Per Nilsson and the men’s tennis team took down Harvard in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the prestigious Round of 16 for the first time since 2001. Ranked No. 10 in the country, MSU will play Tennessee in Illinois this weekend.
- In Columbia, Missouri, home of one of the newest teams in the conference, MSU’s track and field teams had a big showing in the SEC Championships. Bulldogs had four top-five finishes on the final day of competition. MSU is off this weekend, then hits the road to North Carolina for the NCAA East Preliminary competition on May 23-25.
- And, oh yeah, MSU and Ole Miss baseball had quite an entertaining series over the weekend. The final game of the series was a fun one, as Ole Miss built up a 6-0 lead, then MSU scored seven unanswered to win the game 7-6 in dramatic fashion. State lost the weather-altered series, but stayed in good position for hosting an NCAA Regional if things go well over the next four games. Racking up 27 hits in the final two games of the series, MSU is hoping to carry some of that momentum into Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts and the massive regular-season finale against South Carolina in Starkville this weekend. A reminder: that series begins on Thursday (Hawaiian T-shirt Night!), not Friday. Plan accordingly.
How can you keep up with everything? Carefully. And Twitter is the easiest way to follow along with the up-to-the-minute happenings. Find me @bobcarskadon for news and bad jokes, and find the individual team Twitter pages for news without bad jokes.
In the meantime, I’ll be working on stories – and have already written a couple – on everything going on the next several days.
For the second-consecutive year, Mississippi State softball will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs were selected Sunday night into the Mobile regional hosted by 13-seed South Alabama.
MSU’s first game will be this Friday at 3:30 against Florida State, while South Alabama plays Mississippi Valley State to round out the regional.
I caught up with head coach Vann Stuedeman for a couple minutes (video below) immediately after the announcement, and as you’d imagine, she’s pretty excited.
A couple crazy numbers came out once the whole bracket was revealed, as it turns out MSU has already played 16 of the teams in the NCAA Tournament, plus they’ve beaten four of the national seeds this season, 25 percent of the host teams.
A head coach or team saying they aren’t afraid of anyone is usually a bit of a cliche, but it’s the truth for MSU after playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.
The Bulldogs are expected to head to Mobile on Wednesday.
Also, check out the second video below, the recorded reaction when the announcement was made.
Here’s where it gets funny: the last time MSU played a 17-inning game, Texas Rangers slugger Mitch Moreland got the win for Ron Polk’s team. As a pitcher.
