Starkville, the wait is over: Your Bulldogs are national champions.
Mississippi State bulldozed Vanderbilt in Game 3 of the College World Series Final on Wednesday, winning 9-0 behind a lights-out pitching performance and top-to-bottom contributions from the lineup.
Facing Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker, widely considered to be among the top picks in next month’s MLB draft, the Bulldogs struck for three runs through two innings thanks to some Vanderbilt miscues. Rocker walked two batters and made an error in the first two frames.
The Bulldogs blew the game open in the fifth, as four of the first five hitters singled to make the score 5-0 and knock Rocker out of the game. Mississippi State scored four more times in the seventh inning on a solo home run by Logan Tanner and a three-run blast by Kellum Clark to increase the lead to 9-0.
All the while, sophomore Will Bednar kept cruising on the mound. He threw six hitless innings with three walks and four strikeouts, retiring the last 15 batters he faced. He then handed the baton off to Landon Sims, who kept the no-hit bid going through seven innings before giving up a single in the eighth.
Wednesday’s blowout followed a 13-2 Mississippi State win on Tuesday. In the two games, the Bulldogs scored a combined 22 runs with 26 hits and 15 walks.
The title is Mississippi State’s first in any team varsity sport. The Bulldogs had made the College World Series 11 times before this season, finishing as runners-up in 2013.
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