Everything Brian O'Connor said after Mississippi State took the series from Ole Miss

For the ninth time in 10 tries, Mississippi State has a series win over the Ole Miss Rebels.

The Bulldogs commanded the Rebel offense for the second-straight day as Tomas Valincius led the charge in a 6-1 win on Saturday. The victory sets up a possibility for a sweep against Ole Miss in Oxford for the third time since 2017.

After the game, head coach Brian O’Connor spoke to the media about taking the series and the work of Valincius.

Question: Tomas didn’t have his best stuff but he battled again and delivered a win for your guys. What did you see from him?

BOC: “I’ve talked about him so many times about how much of a warrior he is. He obviously wasn’t as good as he was the last two weekends in conference play, but he battled. He buckled down when runners were in scoring position. He’s always his best in the middle innings – you see him rise his game up. They did a nice job against him for sure, but the kid is determined, he has great poise and he’s obviously very talented.

“After that fifth inning, he was at something like 90 pitches and it was time to move on. He did his job. He just looked like he was laboring a little bit but he did a great job on the road to win this ball game for us. It’s always in the back of your mind as a coach that next week those guys are going to have to move up a day, but it was more that he looked like he was laboring and wasn’t sharp out there.”

Q: You managed your bullpen so that you can have most of those guys available tomorrow. Was that the strategy coming into the weekend?

BOC: “It was, other than we wanted to get Maddox Miller out there and extend him if the situation was right and I thought he was terrific. Really talented, young 18-year-old that’s not only going to do the job for the team this year, he’s got a really bright future. That changeup is incredibly special to right handed hitters.

“(Brendan) Sweeney came in and gave us an inning and then (Maddox) Webb at the end. So we’ll be fresh again tomorrow with Duke Stone starting.”

Q: Seems like there’s a different start for you every game.

BOC: “I believe to have a great offensive ball club, it can’t just come in the middle. You can’t rely on Ace Reese, Noah Sullivan and Reed Stallman to do a job all the time. They’re not perfect. The depth of our lineup is pretty special. Obviously, Bryce Chance in the nine, yesterday was in the six hole. Gehrig Frei had a big day today and Jacob Parker is just a really, really talented young man. I continue to be impressed by him. He gets to two strikes and he doesn’t chase. Really mature approach.

“We’re 26 games in and I love what our lineup does. We can hit the ball out of the ball park, we had three today, but we can also run and collect hits together, work deep counts and make a pitcher work. We have options to come off the bench to help us out as well. Really love what that group is doing from an offensive standpoint.”

Q: Your pitchers left 11 stranded. What does that say about those players?

BOC: “Poise. We talk about poise a lot in our program and how important that is. I tell these guys all the time that bad things are going to happen at times, it’s just about how you respond to it. The great pitchers have poise at the most important times. That was on display today. You might not have your best stuff on a given day and Tico, it was not his best stuff today but you have to show poise. You’ve got to make the big pitches and I believe that’s what separates team. We did a terrific job of that today.”

Q: What’s it feel like to win your first series with Ole Miss and have a chance to sweep?

BOC: “It feels great for the players. This is their team, I just happen to be the coach. You look at the guys on our ball club and there’s so many that this will be their last year to wear this State uniform. I know that they have a lot of pride in what it stands for because of how much it means to so many people in our community that support State baseball.

“Obviously, when you play a rival on the road and you win the series after two games, you feel great. That said, I know this group of men will not be satisfied. They’ll be ready to play again tomorrow and tomorrow is another opportunity. You get 30 of these things and, gosh darn it, this league is relentless. You just don’t know when your opportunities are going to come to possibly sweep a team. We’re going to have to come out and play a great baseball game tomorrow starting off with Duke Stone and we’ll throw everything we’ve got at them to win tomorrow’s game.”