2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 18, 2021

Chris Lemonis

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could start with an opening statement.

COACH LEMONIS: We've had a good couple days here in Omaha. A fun past two weeks in Starkville, our Regional, our Super Regional. The atmosphere was unbelievable. Getting the opportunity to come back to Omaha, especially after last year, the kids are excited. We have some guys -- Tanner Allen acts like it's just normal, that's what you're supposed to do.

But for most of our guys, we're a pretty young team. They're pretty bright eyed and big-eyed right now. And walking into the ballpark today is a dream for so many baseball players.

I said it last week, when we won the Super, watching our kids dog pile is such an awesome experience. And seeing those guys get the opportunity to go to Omaha. For me, I've been a handful of times. But for them to go the first time, man, it makes it all worth it.

Q. This schedule has kind of come full circle. You started out with Texas. Now you see them at Omaha. I don't know if you've been able to see any recent film on them, but just your impressions on them from that season opener to now, how they changed or improved or anything that sticks out to you about the Longhorns?

COACH LEMONIS: We're playing a lot better team than we faced day one of the season. That was kind of a crazy week, because we had the ice storms and had to share a flight with Ole Miss. And I know Austin had been hit real hard. We'll play a well-coached team, blue blood of college baseball. They've always been really great. They're great pitching and defense, and they're very athletic. So they'll make you make plays on them; they'll steal bases. Guys that hit it out of the park. But we're going to play.

I saw David earlier. I congratulated him because that first weekend was tough. And then you look up and from about two or three weeks in, they were one of the top five programs in the country all year.

So we have our work cut out for us. We're confident. We know we can play with anybody. But when you get here, everybody's good and everybody's hot.

Q. Went with Will for Game 1. How confident are you with him towing the rubber with that lineup to start off?

COACH LEMONIS: We feel great anytime we have Will on mound. He's one of the top pitchers in the country. He's had a great year. Probably coming off not a great start, anytime he's not had a great start, come back has been pretty good. He's probably harder on himself than anybody else. Such a competitive kid. It's going to be a great game. You'll see two of the best pitchers in the country tow the rubber on Sunday night. It will be exciting; it will be a lot of fun.

Q. Even Tanner said there could be nerves when you first start and first play at Omaha. How do you keep it light for some of these younger players? What are some of the things you do to make sure they can stay loose?

COACH LEMONIS: In our environment that we play in all the time, you know, as great as our fan base, as great as our stadium, there's a lot of pressure being a Mississippi State baseball player. I think our kids have to deal with that all year long. And getting here there is that piece of it, but I think our kids are pretty used to it. We try to play a little light.

Like I've told our coaches this week, cheer them on and for us to be able to make them feel good about playing the game. That's the biggest thing for us. Then we like to take pictures and video shoots and crack up and have a good time. I've been harassed a couple of days since we tried that the last couple of days, we try to keep it loose. We're not an uptight team. Watching them flying here, they're in suits. And I have a hard enough time if I give Tanner Allen a shirt two days prior, he'll cut the sleeves off of it. So we're one of those teams, shorts and T-shirts and everything else. Probably not real formal.

Q. [Inaudible] to get to this point.

COACH LEMONIS: Since we went to COVID, I finished every day and golfed every day and tried to keep sanity. So it's such a blessing to be back and just to be playing and we've had the ability to play in front of a lot of fans, a sense of normalcy for the kids to be in the program, a chance to be here. This is the pinnacle. You're a college baseball player, you're a high school baseball player, youth baseball player, you dream about being here. It's a lot of fun to be back.

Q. What do you remember about Ty Madden? I know it's a different team. Not that much of a start, but lately what have you seen from him and what makes him a dangerous pitcher?

COACH LEMONIS: I had a chance because when we matched up I saw a lot of their Super Regional knowing we were matched up. I saw a lot of his game last game. Power, that's what I remember. He blew balls by us. Then watching him as the years went on. The breaking ball, lights out. If he gets on that roll, goes to it a lot, and can get you to swing and miss a good bit. So we're going to have our work cut out for us.

We'll have to grind and work pitches and get some big hits. Somebody's got to get a big hit in that game because it's going to be a lot of power arms.

Q. You took this team to Omaha a few years ago and now obviously you're back. You got some of those guys, but a little bit of new. Do you think your chances of winning it all this year compared to that year are heightened or is it kind of tough to say?

COACH LEMONIS: Well, first of all, they took me. So when you come here, it's because of the players. So we've been talking about that for the last couple of weeks. It's a player's time. And these two teams are very different but there's a lot of similarities. And so it's hard to tell. Every time is new for that individual team. So even though we've been here three times for this group, us being here, it's our first. And I know Tanner's been here, Rowdey's been here. But Cameron James was here, he watched his brother play until '18 and '19. But he's never been between the lines. It's going to be new for all of us, but I like our chances.

We've had a great season but we haven't had a perfect season. We've had tough days and tough weekends and a tough tournament and our team has had to be really resilient. And I think that pays off. We've won a lot of -- it's amazing how many close games we've played, big walk-off hits we've had and that type of resiliency at the end of the year. I like our group. We're tough. They have responded every time. And we're excited to play.

Q. You talk about the players bringing you there, but of course it takes a coach like yourself to kind of develop, how to keep them consistent over the stretch. How do you sum up your philosophy for developing talent and grooming it to be competitive year after year, and I guess building some of these guys to go to the next level?

COACH LEMONIS: That's something we take a lot of pride in, the recruiting process, which is the major step of getting to Omaha is the recruiting process. And that's probably where I get most recognition in my career, as a recruiter. And then we have an unbelievable staff and we have an unbelievable facility set up for player development.

Jake Gautreau is our hitting coach and Scott Foxhall is our pitching coach. You have Kyle Cheesebrough. And we have -- we had two first-round middle infielders last year that weren't drafted out of high school. I don't know if that's ever happened. And guys just get better here. We have a great strength and conditioning and nutrition program. Those pieces, that's what we're selling in the recruiting world. And our philosophy is we like athletic players and we feel like we get them in our environment, and if they're really willing to work and sacrifice, we feel like they'll have long careers after Mississippi State.

Q. Want to get your thoughts on the scouting report of the Texas bullpen. They have four really young guys. A number of them can reach up to 97, 98 miles. What did you see from them in the last few games? How do you think this will be being their first time going to Omaha and really in this playoff playing against you?

COACH LEMONIS: I'd rather have freshmen with mid-90s, breaking balls than seniors at 88. I can tell you, they're talented. We've watched them. We've watched some of the TCU series earlier in the year just as a fan and I'm really impressed. By this time of the year, when you go through all these stressful weekends, the freshman piece is kind of -- they're more sophomores than they are freshmen when they pitch in these environments. Obviously everybody in Omaha new for the first time has pressure. But it's power arms. It's really -- it's really impressive.

Q. You talked about that recruiting piece. And I know you recruit to a fit with a lot of these guys. You might not be going after a guy that is throwing 96 from the left side or something. And that's kind of --

COACH LEMONIS: I like that guy a lot. Sorry to cut you off.

Q. Houston Harding is not that guy. They call him a bulldog, high school player and all that. What did you see from him in recruiting that you liked and how has he lived up to what you wanted whenever you recruited him?

COACH LEMONIS: If you can measure it in recruiting, the number one tool you're looking for is toughness. And that's what Hootie has. He has great stuff across the board. But he's a tough kid and he's always won. And so you can see the ways that we have used him this year. At the beginning of the year, I mean the first weekend of the season Will Bednar gets a crick in his neck and Houston has to start, didn't know he was going to start. And we put him in situations and he's prevailed just because of toughness, can come out there in the middle of a storm and calm everything down and make pitches and get guys out. So he's not 96, but it's still good stuff. And it's a plus change-up and it's a will to compete.

Q. Can you take any experiences with you from playing in Myrtle Beach and also the Citadel with you into Omaha this weekend, just growing up and things like that?

COACH LEMONIS: I was a baseball fanatic growing up. My time in Myrtle Beach was special. My high school coach graduated from The Citadel. I moved from Houston, Texas -- I was admitted to University of Texas, I was going to try to walk on. That wouldn't have happened in the heyday. My high school coach talked me into going to The Citadel. It was a path for me -- I got to be part of great teammates, great pals and part of my coaching tree I got to coach with Dan McDonnell. All that goes back to my time at Myrtle Beach and my background there. But it was a pretty cool, when you were going to move in the middle of your high school career, to be able to move to Myrtle Beach; it was all right.

Q. I'm just curious, how do you balance taking away what you saw from this Texas team in Game 1 knowing they aren't the same team that they were back then that they are now?

COACH LEMONIS: We're spending a lot more time on what's happened in the last month than what they did the first weekend. The first weekend of the season, I'm telling you, a lot of us didn't even practice that first week. And Austin was worse than anywhere.

So we're looking at our scouting reports. We had put together really good scouting reports before that weekend. But so many things have happened over the years. So we're spending a lot more time watching the Regional, Super Regional, conference tournament, watching those type of things instead of looking back at the first game. They all blend together. So for me to go back to that first game, man, it's really tough.

Q. The last couple of starts for Christian, he's given up, I believe it was, four and six runs. But I remember after each of those games you weren't too concerned with him, just had a couple of pitches that obviously went -- how confident are you in him heading into this and how would you kind of assess where he's at?

COACH LEMONIS: It's kind of funny, like the Notre Dame game, he gave up some runs in that game. He wasn't happy. But his stuff was actually better than it had been in a couple of weeks. And he did give up the home run. We made the errors in the first to put him behind and put the pressure on him, which was unfortunate.

But he's a fly ball pitcher and he's given up probably -- if you had to critique him, he's given up too many home runs on the year. But this ballpark's made for fly ball pitchers. So I feel good about him running out there. He strikes out guys. He gives up some balls in the air, and usually the balls aren't flying out of here. They weren't today.

And you never know, maybe the wind turns or something. But it's a big ballpark. And when he does get hurt it's in the air, and I feel better about him pitching here in this ballpark.