What Mississippi State baseball's Chris Lemonis said about late-game decisions vs Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Mississippi State baseball coach Chris Lemonis elected to make a questionable pitching change in the ninth inning of Sunday’s Charlottesville Regional final against Virginia.
He removed righthander Gavin Black, who pitched a scoreless eighth before retiring the first batter he faced in the ninth, in favor of lefthander Tyler Davis.
The decision backfired.
Virginia, the No. 1 seed and host, rallied for six runs credited to Davis who didn’t record an out. A one-run deficit turned into a 9-2 hole for No. 2 seeded Mississippi State – which wound up as the final score and the end of the season for the Bulldogs.
After the game, Lemonis dove into his decision to take Black out.
With one out and the bases empty, Virginia (44-15) had left-handed hitter Harrison Didawick coming up. Hoping to keep the game within one, Lemonis wanted a left-handed pitcher facing him.
Didawick entered the game hitting .303 with 23 home runs this season. Against Mississippi State (40-23) on Saturday, he had a pair of hits.
“We had the left-handed matchup,” Lemonis said. “Didawick killed us the night before. Tyler Davis has been a rock for us all year long. I hate it for the kid that, that’s his last outing because he has been so good for us.”
The decision proved costly with Davis walking Didawick. That was followed by another walk, three hits and an error before Davis – who threw 27 pitches Friday in a win against No. 3 seed St. John’s − was removed.
Lemonis turned to Karson Ligon who allowed a pair of runs to score on wild pitches before closing the inning.
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The decisions were magnified with Nate Dohm going unused in the regional.
Dohm opened the season as Mississippi State’s top starter. After missing time with an injury, he returned in May as a bullpen piece. However, he wasn’t used to replace Davis.
“Every time we’ve given him a clean inning and plenty of time to warm up,” Lemonis said. “That’s probably more of the decision there to start an inning. We kind of felt like he was a start-an-inning guy and not the middle inning.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State baseball's Chris Lemonis on pitching moves vs Virginia
