CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Dakota Jordan stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 10 inning facing yet another big moment.
The sophomore outfielder has been in the middle of the biggest slump of his career. Just 1-for-his last 26 at the plate with 11 strikeouts, St. John’s chose to intentionally walk David Mershon ahead of him with the tying run at third and two outs.
With one swing of the bat, the weight of the world was unleashed off of Jordan’s shoulder. A shot to right field would land in the Mississippi State bullpen and the Diamond Dawgs walked off the Red Storm 5-2 in 10 innings.
“I just thanked God for being in this opportunity. It was big. I can’t do anything but smile,” Jordan said. “It takes so much pressure off of me. I just try to go up there and do my best and try not to think about everything.”
Jordan’s big hit brings emotion out of coach
For a player’s coach like Chris Lemonis, seeing that moment come to fruition for Jordan might have meant more to Lemonis than his sophomore hitter. Lemonis has stuck behind Jordan through the struggles and has kept him in the middle of the order despite several tough at bats over the last two weeks.
As Lemonis stood on in the dugout watching the at bat unfold, he couldn’t help but get a tear in his eye when the ball was deposited in right field. Jordan wasn’t even sure that hit had won the ball game, but his coach knew just how much that meant to his team.
“As a coach, you see him work so hard and see how much he puts into it you’re sitting there just like ‘let him get one,’” Lemonis said. “I thought he had some really good at bats with some tough pitches here and there and he’s mentally a lot better than he was last week.”
While that hit was certainly huge for State, it gave the Bulldogs more runs on that one blast than they had in the previous nine innings. MSU (39-21) struggled mightily against starter Xavier Kolhosser as he threw a career-high 8.2 innings, gave up six hits, two runs, two walks and struck out six batters.
The only player that seemed to have the right hander’s number was third baseman Logan Kohler who was 3-for-4 with two RBI, two doubles and a home run. That homer came in the second inning as State jumped on the Red Storm 2-0, but the Bulldogs could do no more damage until Jordan’s big hit.
Stephen, Davis deliver again for State pitching
As has been the case most of the season, State RHP Khal Stephen did everything he could to give the Bulldogs a chance.
State’s ace pitcher threw 8.0 innings, gave up seven hits but just two runs, didn’t walk a batter and he struck out 10. The only blemish to his game on Friday night came in the fourth inning when he surrendered a two-out, two-run single off the end of the bat of Marty Higgins. That was a three-hit inning from the Red Storm and they had just four hits the rest of the game.
“I just stuck with the plan and was being aggressive,” Stephen said. “I just wanted to get the first guy out and roll from there.”
After Stephen came in the Bulldog closer Tyler Davis and he delivered another great relief appearance with 2.0 scoreless frames, one hit, no runs, no walks and a strikeout to move to 6-1 this season. MSU pitching combined to strikeout 11 and walk no one in 10.0 frames.
It was a big final hit from Jordan, but the Bulldogs still have struggled to find the consistency at the plate. MSU did have eight hits but three of those came from Kohler while Aaron Downs was 2-for-4 in his return to the lineup after missing the last three weeks with an injury.
Up Next
Despite the inconsistency on offense, State found away to win yet another ball game in walk-off fashion. The Bulldogs have now won 10 games in the postseason with game-winning hits since 2018. During that run, eight of them have been walk-off hits.
The Bulldogs now try to keep it going as they take on the host Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday night at 6 p.m. ET. UVA knocked off No. 4 seed Penn on Friday afternoon and boast one of the NCAA’s best offenses. Jurrangelo Cijntje will take the mound for State looking to advance it to the bracket final.
“Man, they’re good. They’re the home team, they’ve had a great year and they’re really offensive,” Lemonis said of the Cavs. “It will be a battle. It will be two really good college baseball teams playing and I imagine there will be a lot of orange in the ballpark so we have to bring our best effort because they’re definitely one of the better teams in the country.”
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