Reliving the Road to Omaha
A look back on the exciting path Mississippi State paved to the 2021 College World Series.
Joel Coleman, Senior Writer
6/18/2021
OMAHA, Neb. – For Mississippi State, it’s destination: Omaha.
The Bulldogs clinched their third-straight trip to the College World Series on Monday night and MSU now owns the nation’s longest active streak of reaching college baseball’s biggest stage.
Yet as the old saying goes, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And Mississippi State’s path to middle America to compete for the 2021 national title was one filled with excitement, resiliency and special moments.
So before MSU opens up play in the College World Series at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday night, let’s quickly relive how the Bulldogs paved their road to Omaha.
Texas Two-Step
Every team’s story has to start somewhere and the Diamond Dawgs wasted no time in making an emphatic statement to the rest of the college baseball world.
Mississippi State began its year taking on three national powers and eventual NCAA Tournament national seeds at the State Farm College Showdown in Texas. The Bulldogs won two out of three in the Lone Star State, beating Texas 8-3 and topping Texas Tech 11-5.
It was, in many ways, a glimpse of what was to come over the next four months. From Landon Sims’ dominance of the Longhorns, to big swings from Rowdey Jordan and Luke Hancock, the first course of the season was merely an appetizer for the main dish to come.
"I think it just shows we're a bunch of hard-nosed, gritty players who love playing the game each and every day," Hancock said at the time.
The Bulldogs would soon be backing up Hancock’s claim time and time again.
Comeback Kids
Perhaps fittingly after his comments the week before, it was Hancock exemplifying State’s grit and toughness only days later.
The Bulldogs dropped the opening game of a series to Tulane and needed a bounce back. However, MSU trailed 5-3 in the ninth inning of the set’s second game. After Logan Tanner’s two-run single tied the game at five, Hancock stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. With one big swing, Dudy Noble Field erupted. Hancock drove a game-winning grand slam over the right-field wall, sending a message that these Dawgs don’t die.
"I think that's the best moment of my life," Hancock said postgame. "That's something you dream of. You come up to the plate with the bases loaded, tie ballgame in the ninth (and) been down the whole game. Then having the opportunity to go up there and do that, it was special."
For anyone not convinced of MSU’s mettle, the Bulldogs drove home the point less than 24 hours later. It was 4-3 Tulane in the bottom of the ninth of the Sunday game. State was down to its final out. A certain right fielder on his way to becoming the Southeastern Conference’s Player of the Year wasn’t fazed. Tanner Allen delivered a two-run, walk-off single, once again proving MSU might get down, but…
"You can't ever count the Dogs out,” outfielder Drew McGowan said after the win. “We're going to punch back."
The No-No
In the midst of Mississippi State establishing itself as a College World Series contender, March 6th ended up displaying one of this year’s Bulldogs’ greatest strengths – the depth and talent of the pitching staff.
Four different MSU hurlers combined to record the school’s first no-hitter since 1999 as the Bulldogs rolled to a 13-0 win over Kent State.
First, there was Jackson Fristoe. The freshman right-hander started and tossed six perfect innings. Sims, Mikey Tepper and Cam Tullar followed Fristoe to the bump. It was Tullar on the mound when State shortstop Lane Forsythe made an unbelievable running catch in center with his back to the infield to close out the momentous day.
At the end of the game, head coach Chris Lemonis called it his club’s best showing of the year up to that point. It came at the right time, too, as Southeastern Conference play was coming up in under two weeks.
Setting the Tone
For all the talent that Mississippi State starting pitchers Christian MacLeod and Will Bednar possess, one thing they didn’t have headed into the first SEC series of the season down at LSU was experience against conference foes. The two hurlers didn’t get the chance to play league games in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
Well to say the two were up for the task in Baton Rouge is quite an understatement. MacLeod dazzled on Friday night, giving up only three hits and a run over six innings. At one point, he retired 13 straight Tigers.
“One of the better outings of his career so far,” Lemonis later said of MacLeod, following the 6-1 win.
Bednar followed suit on Saturday. The hard-throwing right-hander tossed five scoreless frames, also having a streak of sitting down 13 LSU hitters in a row, as State went on to a 3-0 victory.
“He is such a confident kid,” Lemonis said after Bednar’s outing. “To be able to go on the road and pitch like that in his first SEC game, he is just a competitor.”
The SEC schedule is a brutal gauntlet that shows no mercy. However, MacLeod and Bednar helped to display only two games in that the Bulldogs were built for it.
Hot Dawgs
Maybe the defining stretch of Mississippi State’s season started just as the calendar flipped to April. After a tough weekend at Dudy Noble Field against Arkansas, the Bulldogs were again in a spot where they needed to dig deep. But as they’d shown before, that’s apparently in this group’s DNA.
State went on to win eight of its next nine SEC games. First, it was Kentucky. In a tight series with a pair of one-run contests, MSU swept away the Wildcats.
A week later, the Bulldogs took their brooms across the state line over to Auburn. MSU topped the Tigers by scores of 6-5, 7-2 and 19-10 for a six-game conference winning streak.
Mississippi State stretched that to seven in a row on Super Bulldog Weekend with a series-opening triumph over Ole Miss. The Bulldogs went on to claim the set over the Rebels with a thrilling, come-from-behind Sunday win, punctuated by an Allen bases-clearing, three-run triple that put State in front for good.
When Allen slid headfirst into third, jumping to his feet and nodding at his teammates in the home dugout repeatedly like a bobblehead doll come to life, it all but cemented that the Bulldogs were on a path for not just hosting postseason baseball in Starkville, but being a Top-8 national seed.
Closing Strong
Still, there was work left to do. Two weeks after the Ole Miss series, State sat at 29-10 overall and 11-7 in league play. Not too shabby, but far from having anything locked up and guaranteed. So the Bulldogs rolled up their sleeves and got back after it.
MSU went on to put an exclamation point on its regular season. The Dawgs bookended their final four SEC series by sweeping Texas A&M and Alabama. They also notched a series win at South Carolina in between.
The end result was that Mississippi State had the chance to go to the SEC Tournament with very little left to prove.
“We have been one of the top teams in the country all year,” Lemonis said after the regular season’s final game. “It’s what we have done in the league playing in the toughest conference in the country. We put it on the line going out of our league and played a lot better than a lot of people.”
The NCAA Tournament committee took notice. The Bulldogs were picked as the No. 7 national seed, meaning Mississippi State would never have to leave Dudy Noble Field on its quest to return to Omaha.
Rolling in the Regional
The Bulldogs made quick work of their first postseason hurdle. About the only thing that could slow them down was Mother Nature.
Mississippi State opened up the Starkville Regional with an 8-4 win over Samford, then advanced to the Regional championship game a day later when the Bulldogs pounded VCU to the tune of 16-4.
MSU looked poised to wrap things up on Sunday, but rain and storms pushed back the event’s title game to Monday. No matter. State eventually got its chance and topped the Campbell Camels 6-5 to move on to a Super Regional for the fifth straight year.
Awaiting the Bulldogs was Notre Dame. It was set to be a tough test for sure, but built by a season’s worth of trials and tribulations, there seemed to be a quiet confidence amongst the MSU squad.
“There's not an easy Super Regional in the country, and we feel like we have one of the hottest teams in the country coming in here,” Lemonis said. “We're going to have to have a great week of practice and get ready to have another great weekend. I like where we're at right now. Our team is in a good spot.”
Punching the Ticket
And of course, what Lemonis didn’t mention after winning the Regional was that Mississippi State would once again have its not-so-secret weapon ready to go in the Super.
It’s what Lemonis has termed all year as The Dude Effect. The throngs of maroon-and-white-clad State fans that pack Dudy Noble Field have long given MSU the best homefield advantage in all of college baseball. However, the MSU faithful might’ve never had as big of an impact as they did in 2021.
From Hancock’s heroics against Tulane, to Allen’s clutch triple against Ole Miss to State’s quick pathway through the Starkville Regional round, all of it was fueled by those in the stands, bleeding maroon.
They came out in droves to watch Mississippi State try to punch another ticket to the College World Series. In fact, they came out like never before. The Starkville Super Regional attendance tallied up to 40,140. It now stands as the largest three-game series crowd in NCAA history.
The Bulldogs earned the advantage of being a national seed on the diamond throughout the year. Their fans then did their part to help finish the push towards Nebraska.
After splitting the first two games of the series versus Notre Dame, MSU claimed its 12th all-time College World Series appearance with an 11-7 win in Game 3. It wasn’t lost on the Irish that it wasn’t just the nine Bulldogs on the field that won the Super Regional, but the thousands that jammed The Dude to chant and cheer and yell for MSU all series long.
“It factors in,” Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said. “It gives the home team an edge in energy. We haven't played a game in a setting like this. Until you experience it in this setting, you can't prepare for it.”
The result of it all is this Mississippi State team that has fought and scratched and clawed and plugged holes and rearranged pieces and simply found a way to win all year long, now has the chance to win it all. And wouldn’t you know it, the next chapter of this team’s story will start in Omaha against the same Texas team MSU opened 2021 with all those months ago.
The journey reuniting the Bulldogs with the Longhorns has been one full of twists and turns, defeats and victories. It has been a memorable trek to say the least. But now, MSU’s long-desired destination of the school’s first-ever national championship is in clear sight. The Bulldogs’ eyes are on earning it and, at least as far as the 2021 State team is concerned, living happily ever after.
But in Omaha, nothing is given. So while many rejoice that Mississippi State has once again made it to college baseball’s promised land, the Diamond Dawgs themselves put their heads back down, ready to do what they do best. Get after it.
"We've got work still to do," Lemonis said.
