Mississippi State got to hoist the championship trophy

No sign of yet another nasty weather delay as Mississippi State stormed the field at TD Ameritrade Park Wednesday night and the Dawgs piled on to the mound, not just the players but hundreds of their supporters who hopped the fence or came through it to join in.

This was nothing new, their baseball team had done this before, but never, ever to celebrate their first national championship, not only in baseball, but in any sport male or female.

The great 1985 team will always be remembered as the program’s finest that never got to hoist the Division I World Series Trophy, but the 7th-ranked 2021 entry will be the first after losing game 1 to 4th-ranked Southeastern Conference rival Vanderbilt, 8-2, in the best-of-3 championship series, then storming back to pound the defending champion Commodores, 13-2 and 9-0.

Once the final out occurred with an infield ground out, the first baseman stuffed the ball into his pocket, gloves were tossed, caps were flung, out of the dugout came the Mississippi State coaches and trainers, and the scene was finally set in this the program’s 12th appearance in Omaha, Neb.

It was before an announced overflow crowd of 14,237, and most of them wore the maroon and white of the Bulldogs. The school has a current combined student body of approximately 22,000, which is less then the present Starkville total of some 24,000, and most of them appeared in Omaha with cowbells, other noise makers, signs and more signs, along with twists and shouts.

They were thousands of miles from the home state, but it sure looked like a usual home game at Duty Park, which averages about 12,000 per game and the visitors need ear plugs.

If was an abrupt ending for Vanderbilt after it gained an automatic spot in the finals when its opponent, North Carolina State, was eliminated from play when the NCAA learned it had six players who tested positive and were now down to nine position players and only four pitchers.

Because of this the NCAA eliminated the Wolf Pack from play, ruled its game against N.C. State “no contest” and in went Vandy to the finals against Mississippi State, which had to dispose of Texas twice to claim the other spot.

But with Vanderbilt able to call on Leiter and Rocker, the Bulldogs had crafty freshman Will Bednar and his mixture of fast stuff, moving curves, a annoying change-up, and poise and control. The right-hander struck out 15 Longhorns in his first start, and returned two days later to fan eight in six innings.

So back he went to the hill in the deciding game versus the Commodores, and with the usual strong relief from fire balling sophomore Landon Sims, the two combined for a one-hitter over the nine frames.

Mississippi State concluded at 50-18, won eight times via shutouts and a dozen times by one run. The Dawgs were blanked only once and lost three times by a single run. Junior Tanner Allen led the way at bat with a .383 World Series average, sophomore catcher Logan Tanner was solid behind the plate, and showed a strong arm, and the new champions played error less ball in their last seven starts.

Not so for Vandy, which played good defense all season, did not do so in the World Series by committing a pair in game one, three in game two, and three again in the deciding game. That alone helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back times in what became “no contests.” and for the Dores, it was a disappointing flight back to Nashville with an impressive 48-19 record.

Wednesday’s game had the usual weather delays, this time for an hour and 13 minutes, and ended a CWS unlike any other since it began 1947. There was no “biggest stage” in college hardball last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and COVID-19 was never out of mind during the event’s return even though this picturesque, updated venue had full fan capacities despite the daily rainfalls and lightning reports.

With all this, kudos finally to Mississippi State for adding another historic event to its state, this one truly for all ages and new bragging rights.