Bednar Handles Business

OMAHA, Neb. – On more than a handful of occasions since Mississippi State flew out of Golden Triangle Regional Airport towards Omaha last Wednesday, Bulldog players and coaches have referred to MSU's College World Series appearance as a business trip. So it was incredibly fitting that as State started its run on college baseball's biggest stage against Texas on Sunday, it was a business administration major leading the way with a pitching performance Bulldogs everywhere will be talking about for years to come.

MSU right-hander Will Bednar baffled Longhorn bats all night long, setting a new Mississippi State record for strikeouts in a College World Series game, and the Bulldogs went on to top Texas 2-1 at T.D. Ameritrade Park. Bednar set the tone as he punched out 15 Longhorns over six-plus shutout innings. On a night with a 20 mile-per-hour wind blowing out to straight center, Bednar helped create a stiff breeze all on his own as Longhorn after Longhorn swung and missed.

"I felt like it was a great performance – probably my best ever – especially on this big of a stage," Bednar said. "It was really cool."

Bednar certainly got some help as the Bulldogs advanced to a 6 p.m. CT winner's bracket game on Tuesday against Virginia. The MSU bats gave him a pair of fourth inning runs – one on a Scotty Dubrule sacrifice fly that plated Kamren James, and another on an RBI triple by Brad Cumbest that sent Luke Hancock around to score. And Landon Sims earned a save with three strong innings at the back end to close things out. Sims had six whiffs of his own to give State pitching a new NCAA single-game record with 21 total strikeouts.

However when this game is talked about in the future, it'll be the Bednar brilliance that'll start and end the discussion. He struck out the side in half of his six completed innings. Bednar fanned two batters in each of the other three frames. He hurled four 1-2-3 innings and no Texas player reached second base while Bednar was in the game. The Longhorns mustered just one hit and only three total baserunners against Bednar.

"He was able to command the fastball throughout the zone," State head coach Chris Lemonis said of his starter. "Once he got that slider going, it was just hard to sit on either pitch. And he competed. He fell behind in some counts. He was able to get back in there and win counts when he fell behind, which I thought was huge as the day went on. And just gave them no momentum all day long. He was just really good."

To put it simply, Bednar was locked in. Just how locked in? In the fifth inning, a beach ball escaped from the outfield bleachers and landed in centerfield. Play was halted for several seconds so the object could be removed from the field of play. All the while Bednar, who was already on the pitching rubber before time was called, remained stiff as a statue on the mound. He wasn't budging, ready throw the next pitch.

"He was locked in, no doubt about it," Lemonis said of Bednar. "I remember [time getting called to get the beach ball off the field]. I was hoping he would step off and just relax. But he was ready to pitch…We've talked all week about being highly focused and I guess that's the epitome of being highly focused. He didn't come off that rubber and he stayed locked in. But there's distractions out here. You've got to handle things."

And handle things Bednar did. He handled Bulldog business. Make no mistake about it though. Mississippi State knows this business trip is just getting started.

"We definitely feel good about it, moving forward and keeping it rolling," Bednar said. "Still a lot more baseball to play. We're not done yet."

Mississippi State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Will Bednar

Brad Cumbest

Scotty Dubrule

Luke Hancock

Kamren James

Landon Sims

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