Stone is SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week
Mississippi State Pitcher Duke Stone
Jeff Davis High graduate Duke Stone has been a standout pitcher this year for the Mississippi State baseball program and this week he was named the Southeastern Conference’s Co-Pitcher of the Week.
Stone’s appearance Saturday afternoon before a national television audience was superb as he pitched six shutout innings and fanned 12 against South Carolina in an SEC game.
According to an article in the Mississippi State baseball web site, Stone delivered the best start of his career.
For most of the season, Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius starts the weekend, dominates, and walks off as the headliner. But this week Stone didn’t just match Valincius. He passed him. And on Monday, the SEC made it official by naming Stone the league’s Co-Pitcher of the Week.
Stone earned it with the best start of his career, a six inning shutout that clinched the series at South Carolina. He struck out 12, walked three, scattered five hits, and threw 101 pitches.
“I would just say my fastball location was really good today,” Stone said. “I kind of struggled with the slider a little bit but the curveball stepped up and took its place.”
“He was commanding his glove-side fast ball fairly good, the slider, the breaking ball, the changeup,” Mississippi State coach Brian O’Connor said. “He had all four of them.”
It was the kind of performance that takes over a game and, in this case, took over the weekend.
“Duke Stone was outstanding today,” O’Connor said after Saturday’s game. “He buckled down a lot, I believe he had a runner or runners on the bases every inning, but was able to bear down and make some big pitches. He is a tough competitor, and I love him. He just competes, and he is going to give you everything he has every time he is out there.”
The sophomore is listed as being from Uvalda, but his roots are in Hazlehurst and Jeff Davis County. He is a 2024 graduate of Jeff Davis High School although he and his parents, Dan and Rhonda Stone live in Montgomery County just across the Altamaha River. He is the grandson of Bayne Stone and the late Carol Stone of Hazlehurst.
Stone is now 6-1, and his season numbers show how far he has come.
In 11 appearances and nine starts, he owns a 3.78 ERA with 70 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 47 and two thirds innings. He shared the weekly SEC Pitcher of the Week honor with Ole Miss right-hander Cade Townsend.
Stone’s outing didn’t just help win a series. It shifted the conversation, at least for a moment, away from the usual star and toward a pitcher who is starting to look like one himself.
