Mississippi State Baseball vs. VMI (Game 1): Highlights, score, and analysis

The Mississippi State baseball team won its first game of the 2023 college baseball season in a dominating win vs. the Virginia Military Keydets. Many people and fans place too much emphasis on the opening series of the college baseball season, but there are a few things we can take away from this new team.

Here are my early post-game thoughts:

Amani Larry impressed me more than anyone else.

Amani Larry was four for four yesterday at the plate. Larry is a transfer out of New Orleans, Louisiana, and he kicks off the batting order now. I expect Chris Lemonis to keep Larry in that position for the rest of the season. Lookout SEC, Amani Larry plans to reach base all the time.

This team is young and talented.

There were so many names that I had not heard of until yesterday. This team has the potential to really grow. Again, you cannot base everything on the first series of the season, but there sure were a lot of young guys, and they all seemed to be very talented. Chris Lemonis has done his job recruiting these guys and getting them to come to play at Dudy Noble. Now, we are about to see the product of what Lemonis has worked at for three years.

Slate Alford can batt as well as anyone on the Mississippi State baseball team, but he will struggle at third base.

The third baseman, Slate Alford struggled in the field yesterday, but he finished the game at the plate three for four with two RBIs. Alford is a sophomore out of Madison, Alabama, and I expect to hear his name called many times for the Diamond Dawgs, but I am not so sure how long he will last in the infield. Again, it’s really early, and I know coaches make position changes all throughout the season.