Mississippi State has parted ways with pitching coach Scott Foxhall following the Bulldogs’ winless weekend series at Tennessee.
Foxhall, who helped lead Mississippi State (24-20, 6-15 SEC) to its 2021 national championship, was in the middle of his 29th season in college baseball and his fifth year in Starkville.
The decision to move on from Foxhall comes as the Bulldogs are on track to miss the NCAA Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-1996.
Currently, Mississippi State’s pitching unit holds a conference-worst 6.62 earned run average and the team has given up 65 home runs on the season.
“While this is a difficult decision because of the tremendous respect I have for Scott as a person and a coach, it is in the best interest of our program,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said. “I want to thank Scott for his contributions to Mississippi State over the last five years, and I am appreciative of all he’s devoted to our program. He has played a significant role on our staff during his time here, including helping us win a College World Series Championship. I sincerely wish Scott and his family the absolute best in the future.”
Foxhall has been a part of 10 NCAA Tournament appearances during his career. Following MSU’s College World Series Championship, Foxhall earned assistant coach of the year honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association.
“Mississippi State is the premier program in college baseball,” Lemonis said. “There’s no question our expectations are to be the gold standard of the sport. That has and will always be true. No one is satisfied with the results since our run to a national title not long ago. Starting with me as the leader of our program, I can assure you we are going to continue to work, prepare and compete as hard as possible to put a product on the field that meets the standard of Mississippi State Baseball.”
As of now, MSU is on pace to play in Hoover for the SEC Tournament as the Bulldogs sit one game ahead of Ole Miss and Missouri in the conference rankings. That being said, Mississippi State faces an uphill battle to remain in postseason conversations with matchups versus No. 6 Arkansas and No. 1 LSU on the next two weekends’ schedules.
