Mississippi State reportedly reaches across the SEC to hire new pitching coach

Justin Parker has been a top target at multiple openings across the country and now the South Carolina pitching coach is headed to the same position at Mississippi State, according to 247Sports.

Parker will replace Scott Foxhall, who was fired about 2 months ago when the Bulldogs were 24-20, and 6-15 in the SEC. When that move was made, Mississippi State had a league-worst 6.62 ERA this season, and allowed the most runs in the SEC at 321.

Parker just finished his second season in Columbia as pitching coach, after he came from Indiana where he was associate head coach/pitching coach for 3 years. Parker this past season for the Gamecocks helped the pitching staff to a 4.19 ERA in 2023, which was second in the SEC and 12th in the country. The Gamecocks hosted and won the NCAA Columbia Regional and lost to Florida in the Gainesville Super Regional after 42 wins on the season.

In 2022, Parker guided a South Carolina that dealt with a rash of injuries to 501 strikeouts in 479 innings pitched.

At Indiana, Parker’s staff had a 3.17 ERA and struck out 462 batters in 383.1 innings pitched as Indiana went 26-18 with a Big Ten-only schedule in 2021.

JUST IN: Mississippi State has hired South Carolina pitching coach Justin Parker for the same position. https://t.co/8Ghom2nj61

— Bulldawgs247 (@Bulldawgs247) June 19, 2023

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.