Mississippi State Baseball Looks to Bounce Back in 2023

The Mississippi State baseball program is at a strange time in its lifespan. The Bulldogs are going into their second season since they brought the first national title in any sport to Starkville. Even so, the Dawgs had a disappointing follow-up season to their championship run as the team finished with a record of 26-30 and went just 9-21 in the SEC. It doesn’t help matters that the Bulldogs’ biggest rival, the Ole Miss Rebels, are coming fresh off their own run to a national title. Now, head coach Chris Lemonis and his Bulldogs are looking to rally after preseason polls placed Mississippi State outside of the top 25 nationwide.

Time to Step Up, Bulldogs

Mississippi State is coming into this season with many fresh faces. Head coach Chris Lemonis has opened the door to several high-profile freshmen like Dakota Jordan, as well as transfers like Colton Ledbetter from Samford. As a result, the Bulldogs will need to lean on some key players if they are going to launch themselves back into championship contention.

Freshman Hunter Hines is one such player. Hines had a terrific freshman season, establishing himself as an offensive juggernaut. Coming out of Madison Central High School, Hines started every game in his first season with Mississippi State and was one of the top performers at the plate. Hines batted .300 as a freshman and was second on the team in RBIs and home runs with 16. The Bulldogs will certainly be leaning on Hines come game time.

A question for some time has been the status of first baseman and catcher Luke Hancock. Despite the team’s lack of success, Hancock had a good year in 2022, batting .278 and recording a team-best on-base percentage of .406. Though both Hancock and Coach Lemonis thought the first baseman would go in the MLB draft, Hancock went undrafted. “I kind of had to give him some space,” said Lemonis when speaking on the undrafted Hancock. “You’re pretty beat up at that point. We just started having some small conversations of coming back.” After some encouragement from his coach, Hancock decided to return to Mississippi State as a graduate student, much to the delight of fans.

After Luke Hancock decided to come back, Coach Lemonis was quick to show his confidence in his returning first baseman. Hancock was named captain of the 2023 Mississippi State team. When speaking on why he gave Hancock the distinction of team captain, Lemonis said, “We just needed leadership and I think that was a big piece of coming back.” Though he has played first base for the Bulldogs, Hancock will be in his natural state this year as he will be used primarily as a catcher.

Tough Competition in the SEC

One thing that Mississippi State has going against it this season is the SEC, possibly the toughest conference in college baseball. The SEC has been a force to be reckoned with in the college baseball world. In four of the past five college baseball world series, an SEC team has taken home the trophy and an SEC team has played for a national title every year since 2008, except for 2016.

This year is no different. All you have to do is look at the preseason rankings to see that. The SEC currently occupies seven of the top ten spots in the preseason rankings and 4 of the top five. In-state rival and defending champion Ole Miss are sitting at number four, and the neighboring LSU is at the number one spot. Mississippi State will play eight different teams in the top 25 this season. This young team will be tested in the biggest ways possible.

The Bulldogs will find just as much challenge in the state of Mississippi as they will in the SEC. Their biggest rival, Ole Miss, is coming fresh off a national championship and will be looking to show that the Rebels now run college baseball in the Magnolia State.

Meanwhile, down in Hattiesburg, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles are looking to continue their success as they hosted a super-regional last season. The Golden Eagles currently sit at number 18 in the country. Mississippi State will play Southern Miss only once this season, on February 28, before entering SEC play. The Dawgs will then face Ole Miss in a mid-April series and once more on April 25.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs will start their 2023 campaign against VMI on February 17 at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville, MS.