Mississippi State one win from the NCAA Division I Baseball World Series

Oregon State still around after turning back Washington, in the loser’s bracket, Texas and Florida try to avoid ​elimination in the other bracket

By Arnie Leshin 

It was June 1st, the 64-school field was assembled at 16 Regional sites and 3rd seeded Mississippi State took the field against 2nd seeded Oklahoma at top seed and host FSU in Tallahassee.

It was a disaster. The Bulldogs went down 20-10 and one more loss in the double-elimination would send them home. Still stunned by the result, Mississippi State recovered quickly, knocking out FSU, 3-2, Samford, 9-2, and then Sooners, 8-1, to win the Regional.

Done there, the feisty Bulldogs were off to the Super Regional in Nashville versus Vanderbilt in the best-of-3 series that sends the winner into the annual NCAA Division I World Series in Omaha,, Neb.

Again the Starkville school responded on the road, winning game one, 10-8, against the Commodores, then dropping the tense game two, 4-3, to set up the deciding contest before a packed house.

And it was Mississippi State, 10-6, in 11 innings. Mississippi State at 39-27, fifth place in the SEC West, and now on its way to the Elite Eight.

There, the surprising, confident Bulldogs didn’t slow down. They opened against Washington, which made its initial appearance in the CWS and was the next to fall as Mississippi State triumphed 7-1, and moved into the winner’s bracket at TD Ameritrade Park.

And it is still there after shocking 5th ranked North Carolina, 12-2, with four runs in the top of the second and eight more in the eighth. The first four was the result of a grand slam off the bat of Josh Wasburg. The next eight came on three Tarheel errors that included some mental mistakes, some key hits, and with the bases loaded four times and three North Carolina pitchers taking to the mound as the Heels became the lastest

Mississippi State even changed its way of winning. Before this, it survived four elimination games, scored four times in the top of the 11th to dispose of Vanderbilt, 10-6.

Amazing for a program whose head coach Andy Cannizaro suddenly resigned when the team was 0-3. In stepped intern head coach Gary Henderson, the team recovered from a 14-15 start and won 23 of its final 35

to return to Omaha for the first time since losing to UCLA in the 2013 CWS finals.

This is its 11th appearance on the big stage. Now it sits in the driver’s seat, needing one more win to gain the best-of-3 CWS final. The Bulldogs would play next on Friday night against Oregon State, the survivor of Monday’s elimination game. The championship round begins Monday.

In the other bracket, its Arkansas (44-19) and Texas Tech (46-19) in a winner’s bracket contest. In the loser’s survival of Mississippi State’s bracket, 3rd ranked Oregon State piled it on after being down 6-2 to Pac-12 foe Washington when the rain brought a 3-hour delay.

When they resumed, it was all Beavers (50-11) coming back with 10 runs and a 12-6 triumph to oust the Huskies (35-26) and now have to avoid another elimination when they meet up with Mississippi State Friday.

Arkansas, after a lengthy rain and lightening delay, had no problem knocking off Texas, 11-5, as the Long Horns dropped to 42-22.

As for Texas Tech, it shut down Florida, 5-1, with a stellar pitching effort, and plays Arkansas next.The Gators dropped to 47-21.

And Mississippi State just keeps pulling out wins, having fun and loving the position it is in.