Diamond Dawgs Open With Washington In Omaha

OMAHA, Nebraska – Having won five-straight elimination games during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, Mississippi State is set to make its 10th College World Series appearance in program history.

The Diamond Dawgs (37-27) will open their time in Omaha against Washington (35-24) with a 7 p.m. CT from TD Ameritrade Park. The game will air live on ESPN and will also be streamed like through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.

MSU and Washington are the only two teams to reach the College World Series by playing the NCAA Regional and Super Regional rounds on the road.

With a win, MSU will take on the winner of Oregon State (49-10-1) and North Carolina (43-18) on Monday at 6 p.m. CT. With a loss, State will take on the loser of the matchup between the Beavers and Tar Heels at 1 p.m. CT, Monday on ESPN.

For more information regarding State's day-to-day schedule and events hosted by Mississippi State, visit HailState.com/CWS.

NCAA Tournament Bracket | Game Notes | Live Stats

VIDEO (June 12): Gary Henderson, Cole Gordon and Jake Mangum preview MSU's run to Omaha

HOW THEY GOT HERE
After having dropped the Tallahassee Regional opener to Oklahoma by a score of 20-10, State outscored opponents by a combined 33-16 in four elimination games to battle back from the losers bracket for the second-straight year.

Down to the final strike of the season on June 2 vs. Florida State, Elijah MacNamee's three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted MSU to a thrilling walk-off win that extended the season.

MacNamee went on to be named the regional's Most Outstanding Player, while JP France, Rowdey Jordan, Jake Mangum and Dustin Skelton joined MacNamee on the Tallahassee Regional All-Tournament Team.

State then traveled to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt in the Super Regional round, which was a rematch of a regular-season series that the Commodores swept in Starkville.

The Diamond Dawgs took the opener with a 10-8 victory on a walk-off home run from Elijah MacNamee and Vanderbilt took game two on a walk-off homer of its own. One of the most entertaining Super Regional series to date became even more dramatic in game three as a back-and-forth game saw State win 10-6 in 11 innings.

NEED TO KNOW

In 23 of State's 37 wins thus far, opponents have been held to four runs or less. In four of the remaining 12, opponents scored just five runs.
The Diamond Dawgs have 20 comeback wins on the year (37 wins total), seven of which came in the month of March, eight in April (three against Ole Miss and two against Arkansas) and three in May (vs. No. 1 Florida, two in the Tallahassee Regional and one in the final game of the Nashville Super Regional). In 2017, 25 of State's 40 wins were come-from-behind victories.
By going 6-1 against Arkansas and Ole Miss in April and 3-0 vs. Florida and 1-0 vs. Florida State in May, State improved to 10-1 on the year against Top 5 teams and has tallied 16 wins against ranked opponents this season.
State has come on strong after a 14-15 start and 2-7 in SEC play on March 31. Since April 1, MSU is 23-12 overall and finished the regular season 13-8 in conference play.
Holding a RPI of 92 on April 1, State climbed 64 spots to No. 28 in just under two months by posting a 10-6 mark in the month of April and a 7-4 record in May to close the regular season. 12 of those wins came against ranked teams, nine against teams ranked in the top five and eight against top-three teams.
Considering its opposition for the 2018 season entering the NCAA Tournament, the Diamond Dawgs played the sixth-toughest schedule in all of Division I baseball with a winning percentage of .595 (1818-1239-1) on the year.
This marks the second time State reached the NCAA Tournament after starting the season 0-3, with the 1996 Diamond Dawgs having first accomplished the feat at 38-24, 17-13 SEC.
MSU is 27-11 when holding opponents to five or less runs, 14-2 when holding others to two or less runs and 10-16 when allowing six or more runs. State is also 27-2 when scoring six or more runs, 22-7 when scoring first and 15-4 when having scored in the first inning.
Jake Mangum is hitting .348 (29-for-89) in his NCAA Tournament career with four doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs and 14 runs scored.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, Tanner Allen was named Freshman All-SEC at first base and junior Jake Mangum was named First Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive team. Heading into Super Regional weekend, Allen was also named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
Over the last 10 games, the bats have been hot as five different Bulldogs are averaging .300 or better at the plate during that stretch (Rowdey Jordan – .442, Jake Mangum – .400, Dustin Skelton – .355, Elijah MacNamee – .348, Tanner Allen – .302). State is also hitting .314 as a team during that span.
MacNamee is riding a career-best and team-best 29-game reached base streak, and in that span has batted .353 (41-for-116) with 30 runs scored, 11 doubles, eight home runs and 64 RBIs.
Hunter Stovall is on a 23-game reached-base streak and is 33-for-98 (.337) with 26 runs scored, one double, three triples, two home runs, 18 RBIs and 11 walks.
On a team-best 13-game hit streak, Mangum is hitting .407 (24-for-59) over that span with 18 runs scored, three doubles, one triple, one home run and 16 RBIs.
After having missed the entire 2017 season due to injury, Ethan Small has been impressive in his bounce-back season as he's kept opponents to three or fewer runs in 14 of his 16 starts in 2018.
Freshman Rowdey Jordan is on a tear since April 14 (last 29 games), averaging .422 (46-for-109) with 31 runs scored, 20 RBIs, 12 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 14 walks. In that span, Jordan has increased his batting average from .191 to .333.
With 137 doubles on the year, State leads the SEC and ranks seventh in the country in the category. 13 different Diamond Dawgs have tallied a double on the year, with Jake Mangum's 21 being a team best. Mangum ranks first in the league and 28th nationally.
Along with bring second in the SEC with five triples, Tanner Allen ranks 39th nationally in the category.
Mangum's 97 hits are tops in the conference and rank seventh in the country. Stovall ranks fifth in the SEC and 47th nationally with 84 hits on the year.
While Mangum leads MSU in multi-hit games (29), Tanner Allen (24), Hunter Stovall (22) and Rowdey Jordan (19) are the next closest to their junior center fielder.
The MSU pitching staff has combined for 10+ strikeouts in 26 games this season.
State's staff has also collected 26 or more punch outs in 10 of its last 13 three-game weekend series, with six of those having been 29+ strikeout weekends. The Bulldogs most recently struck out Vanderbilt 36 times in the Nashville Super Regional.
MSU is fourth in the SEC in batters struck out looking (169), while Konnor Pilkington leads the league in strikeouts looking (42).
As a team, State is tied for second in the league and ranks seventh in the nation in fielding double plays with 58.
Stovall tops the SEC in fielding double plays (49) and Luke Alexander ranks third in the conference (40).
The MSU defense also leads the SEC in runners caught stealing with 27 and is fifth in the league in runners picked off with seven.

LIVE VIDEO/TELEVISION
Saturday's game against Washington will air on ESPN. All of the CWS games will also be streamed live through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.

LIVE STATS
As has been the case all season long, fans can follow the action with pitch-by-pitch updates through live stats. Visit the Diamond Dawgs' schedule page and click on the "Live Stats" link associated with the appropriate game.

LIVE AUDIO & RADIO
All of State's College World Series games, will air live on the Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network and WKBB 100.9 in Starkville. With Jim Ellis on the call, the contests will also be audio streamed live online at HailState.com/Plus and on TuneIn Radio.

FOLLOW THE DIAMOND DAWGS
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."

Mississippi State University Athletics

Diamond Dawgs Open With Washington In Omaha

Players Mentioned

Luke Alexander

Tanner Allen

JP France

Rowdey Jordan

Elijah MacNamee

Jake Mangum

Konnor Pilkington

Dustin Skelton

Ethan Small

Hunter Stovall

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