2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 29, 2021

Chris Lemonis

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Mississippi State - 13, Vanderbilt - 2

COACH LEMONIS: Big bounce-back game from our guys, just resilient group. We've had our back against the wall feels like all year long and they just keep responding.

As a coach, you couldn't be more proud of your kids, the way they came out and competed. And we came out here and beat Texas the other night with two of my JUCO guys from northwest Mississippi. And tonight, Houston Harding and Preston Johnson, two more of my Mississippi JUCO players. Just couldn't be more proud of those guys. They gave us a chance tonight, and they pitched great. Commanded the zone, but it was just toughness. They were just tough all night long. I thought they did a great job. Really happy for those guys.

Q. Yesterday TA said you guys took a haymaker. What would you call tonight's performance from the guys tonight?

COACH LEMONIS: I thought it was a bounce-back. We took a punch. We came back, played really good baseball. Played good defense. Grinded out some at-bats early. Their guy, he had really good stuff but we didn't swing out of the zone. We were able to expand that game.

And then Preston took that game and ran with it. It was huge for us. It was huge for tonight but it's also huge for tomorrow night.

Q. You mentioned Hootie there but three out of the last four times that your back was literally against the wall with the season on the line -- the Campbell game, Notre Dame, tonight -- he's really delivered. What makes him live so well for these moments? And what does he mean to you?

COACH LEMONIS: He's just a tough kid. I mean, he had good stuff in the first, maybe the second. In the next two innings he was just pitching on fumes.

We got him going early. Then we had the rain delay. Then he had to come back out. Then we had the long inning. He just kept going out there and competing. That's what he does. He has good stuff, but he gives us a chance to win every time he runs out there. And really happy for him to be able to pitch so well on a big stage like that.

Q. You talk about these nerve-racking games and how you have to inch them out. Tonight you get some margin in this one, able to get some separation. Did you expect that to happen in the College World Series final? And how do you feel about it now?

COACH LEMONIS: We're ecstatic because, one, we're still playing; and, two, we used two arms tonight. We have an opportunity to use some different guys tomorrow now because of the score.

And like I said, it was nice after the game, I grabbed Landon, I said, man, it was sure nice not having to pitch you tonight because I feel like in every win for the last month he has been out there. So for him to have the night off and to still get the victory was huge.

Q. Do you suspect that Doug will pitch tomorrow?

COACH LEMONIS: We have no idea right now. We'll assess everything when we get back, look at our arms try to figure it out. Probably know something midday tomorrow.

Q. What did you think of the approaches tonight? You had 10 walks, 14 hits, mostly singles. What was the key to locking in on those pitchers?

COACH LEMONIS: We wanted to grind him out. He has really good stuff. The batting averages off of some of his stuff is really tough, so we felt like we really had to stay on the ball, move the ball, stay in the strike zone and hit balls in the strike zone. And we were able to do that.

I think our crowd helps a little bit. They help us as guy get into the stretch and get into high ball counts. Makes it a little tougher to pitch. But that's kind of the basic approach.

We had it last night too. I thought our guys did a great job last night. I know we only scored a couple of runs. But they have premium pitching. You have to lock in, stay short and grind.

Q. You'll probably end up have to face Rocker tomorrow. You've seen him the last few years. What's the key to approaching him if there is one?

COACH LEMONIS: He's probably one of the best to ever play in college baseball. I keep telling our guys it's going to be a tough road. Our road is always going to be the tough one. We'll have to be the best if we want to win a national championship.

One of the keys is to grind him out also and make him throw his breaking stuff in the zone. A lot of it is the breaking stuff is out of the zone. So for us to have good at-bats, to be locked in, to make him work, which is what we do -- that's usually our goal anyway, no matter who is pitching. But with Kumar Rocker, it's definitely, like I said, he's one of the best to ever pitch in college baseball.

Q. We talk about it all the time, maybe a repetitive question, but you guys out there in front of 22, 23, 24,000 fans, and I don't know what the percentage is but there's a lot of maroon and white out there. Just how special is that to have that over the course of this event? And you know as you try to bounce back today you've got your fan base there and they'll be there tomorrow too I'm sure.

COACH LEMONIS: It's really special. Everett (phonetic), our bus driver, gave me a hard time on the way because he could barely pull the bus out because of all the fans everywhere. "You didn't have this at the Citadel." No, sir, we didn't. It's one of those things it's unique. It's not everywhere. And our fans, the passion they have for baseball and the history and the tradition, and it's a family program.

And so seeing everybody there, it was nice to win tonight because you'd hate for everybody to come and us not play well. I didn't feel like we played great last night. So playing great tonight and giving them a chance to see us do something special tomorrow will be a big moment.