Diamond Dawg Gameday: vs. Texas – College World Series

Sunday, June 20

Omaha, Neb. (TD Ameritrade Park)

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

#2 Texas

Tickets

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Diamond Dawg Gameday: vs. Texas – College World Series

June 19, 2021 | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF)

Mississippi State meets Texas for the sixth time in the NCAA postseason and third time at the CWS

By: Greg Campbell, Assistant Director/Communications

OMAHA, Neb. – It is the last stop on the college baseball calendar and the No. 3 Mississippi State baseball program is the only one that has been to the College World Series in each of the last three full seasons. MSU will open its stay at the event with a Sunday (June 20) evening meeting with No. 2 Texas at TD Ameritrade Park.

Mississippi State (45-16) finished tied for No. 2 overall in the SEC regular season standings with Tennessee (20-10), swept through the NCAA Starkville Regional and won a winner-take-all game over Notre Dame in the NCAA Starkville Super Regional to punch its ticket to the CWS for the 12th time in program history, a total that ranks tied for No. 11 all-time.

Texas captured the Big 12 title with a 17-7 conference mark and swept both the NCAA Austin Regional and Super Regional to get to its 37th CWS, the most all-time. The Longhorns earned their spot in Omaha with a 4-3 walk-off win over USF in the Super Regional.

Head coach Chris Lemonis is the first Division I head coach to reach the College World Series in his first two seasons as head coach of a program in the Super Regional era (since 1999) and just the fifth all-time in NCAA history. He joins the likes of Jim Morris (Miami; 1994-99), Bud Middaugh (Michigan; 1980-81), Jim Brock (Arizona State; 1972-73) and Bill Wilhelm (Clemson; 1958-59).

Tanner Allen, Josh Hatcher, Rowdey Jordan, Spencer Price and Riley Self are each making their third trip to the College World Series, something that no other Bulldog has done in program history. Allen and Jordan will look to move into a category of their own on Sunday night with their eighth start, respectively, to break a seven-way tie for the most in program history at the event.

Gameday Info

Sunday, June 20 (6 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Will Bednar, RHP, Fr. (2Y)
UT: Ty Madded, RHP, R-So.

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Quick Hitters

For the third time in Mississippi State history the Diamond Dawgs have posted back-to-back 45-win seasons, joining the 1984-85 (45 & 50) and 1989-90 (54 & 50) squads. The 45 wins are currently tied for No. 8 all-time in MSU history.
The Diamond Dawgs own the nation's longest streak to CWS appearances at three and have been to five straight NCAA Super Regionals, which is an NCAA-best streak.
State's 12th trip to the College World Series ties the program for No. 11 all-time with Florida and Clemson. It's also the 10th program in the Super Regional era to advance to three straight events.
The 2021 NCAA postseason has been full of familiar postseason opponents, as State has previously met Samford, Notre Dame and Texas.
MORE ON PAGE 14
Chris Lemonis is the first Division I head coach to reach the College World Series in his first two seasons as head coach of a program in the Super Regional era (since 1999).
MORE ON PAGE 14
The Diamond Dawg pitching staff currently ranks No. 2 in NCAA history with 744 strikeouts this season. The total marks just the third time in Division I history a program topped 730 strikeouts in a season.
MORE ON PAGE 19
State has fanned at least 10 batters in five of its six NCAA Tournament games to make it 48 of 61 games in 2021 with double-digit strikeouts. That includes a program-record streak of 21 games from March 21-May 1.
Will Bednar and Christian MacLeod each enter the College World Series with 113 strikeouts, which is tied for the MSU freshman record and gives Mississippi State its fifth season with a 100-strikeout tandem in program history.
MORE ON PAGE 19
Tanner Allen, Rowdey Jordan and Josh Hatcher are the first Bulldogs to reach the College World Series three times in a career at MSU. Allen and Jordan are each tied for the most games played by a Bulldog in Omaha at seven.
MORE ON PAGE 5
As a team, Mississippi State has hit 70 home runs, which ranks No. 10 in program history. It is the first season of 70-plus home runs since 1999. The 2021 edition trails the 1983 squad (72) for No. 9.
MORE ON PAGE 15
State also has five hitters with double-digit home run totals, which is the first time since 1998 that MSU has seen five Diamond Dawgs reach 10 home runs in a single season.
MORE ON PAGE 15
The last time Mississippi State held opponents to a lower batting average in at least 300 innings pitched, Richard Nixon was president.
MORE ON PAGE 19.
Christian MacLeod followed with 13 punchouts against VCU to join Bednar in the century club and give Mississippi State its fifth season with a 100-strikeout tandem in program history. It is the third straight full season with a 100-strikeout duo.
Tanner Allen moved his hitting streak to 21 games with a two-hit game against Campbell. It also extended his reached base streak to 24 games, which is the second-longest on the team this season (38; Rowdey Jordan) and of his career (26; 2019-20).
Rowdey Jordan posted multiple hits in each of the three NCAA Regional games in 2021. For his career in NCAA Regional play, Jordan is 25-for-50 (.500) with 16 runs scored, eight doubles, three home runs and 12 RBIs.
Kamren James blasted his 10th and 11th home runs of the season int he NCAA Starkville Regional to earn MVP honors. In reaching double digits, Mississippi State now has three hitters with 10-plus home runs. It is the first time since 1999 that MSU has seen three Diamond Dawgs hit double-digit home runs in the same season..

College World Series Nuggets

The 2021 edition of the College World Series marks the 50th anniversary of Mississippi State's first appearance at the event in 1971.
Overall, the Bulldogs have 13 wins (13-22) in their previous 11 appearances at the CWS.
MSU is the only program to reach the College World Series in each of the last three full seasons (2018, 19 & 21).
State is making its 12th appearance in the NCAA College World Series and is one of 13 programs with as many appearances at the event.
Mississippi State has reached the CWS in each of the last six decades and is one of only two programs to do so, joining Sunday's opponent, Texas.
Since the Super Regional Era began in 1999, Mississippi State is just the 10th program with three consecutive Omaha trips.
Of the 2021 field, State has faced Stanford, Texas and Vanderbilt at least once in Omaha.
Chris Lemonis is the first Division I head coach to reach the College World Series in his first two seasons as head coach of a program in the Super Regional era (since 1999).
Lemonis is the only SEC skipper and fifth head coach all-time to reach the CWS in his first two seasons. He is the first since Jim Morris at Miami, who led the Hurricanes six straight trips from 1994-99.
Bulldog position players Tanner Allen, Josh Hatcher and Rowdey Jordan are the first Diamond Dawgs to play in three consecutive College World Series.
Pitchers Spencer Price and Riley Self were also on each of the teams to reach Omaha in 2018, 19 and 21.
Allen and Jordan are part of a seven-way tie for most games played (7) by a Bulldog at the CWS.
Allen is just three hits away from ma tie for the most hits at the event, as Rusty Thoms (9; 1997-98) and Jake Mangum (9; 2018-19) are currently tied at the top.
Jordan is currently tied for No. 10 in MSU's CWS history with four RBIs at the event.

Scouting the Opponent

Texas enters after sweeping the NCAA Austin Super Regional to push its record to 47-15 overall. The Longhorns finished as the Big 12 regular season champion with a 17-7 conference record.
As a team, the Longhorns lead the nation in earned run average at 2.89 and rank No. 13 in fielding percentage (.980), which led the Big 12.
Camryn Williams leads the Texas offense, owning a team-best 20 doubles, with the second-most home runs (11) and RBIs (57) and third-highest batting average (.303) on the team.
Ivan Melendez leads the Longhorns with 12 homers and is tied with Mitchell Daly for the team-high in batting (.321).
Longhorn ace Ty Madden owns a 2.41 earned run average over 16 starts to go with a team-best 119 strikeouts.
Out of the bullpen, Cole Quintanilla boasts a team-best 1.29 ERA through 24 appearances.
Texas starters had three of the top six ERAs in the Big 12 this season, as Pete Hansen (1.84) and Tristan Stevens (2.97) joined Madden on the list.

Series Notes

Two of the storied programs in college baseball will meet for the 11th time in program history to open their stay at the 2021 College World Series on Sunday.
Five of the 10 previous meetings have come in the NCAA postseason, with two of those being at the College World Series.
Prior to the 2021 season, State and Texas last met in the 1985 College World Series, a game which UT rallied to win over MSU.
These two teams also met in the season opener at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, as a part of the State Farm College Baseball Classic. MSU won an 8-3 contest behind four perfect innings of relief work from Landon Sims.
The first meetings were also the only games between the two teams in Starkville, as the Bulldogs and Longhorns traded wins in 1922.