Mississippi State Baseball Wins College World Series, Exits Exclusive Club

Mississippi State has finally won a baseball championship. In Game 3 of the College World Series Finals, the Mississippi State baseball team took down Vanderbilt 9-0 and become national championships. As mentioned by CBS, the win by the Mississippi State Bulldogs marks the first time in school history any team has won a national championship. And when it comes to Power 5 schools, Mississippi State was one of three schools to have not won a national title in a team sport. But with the win on Wednesday, Kansas State and Virginia Tech are now the only two Power 5 schools that have yet to win a team national championship.

“I mean, that’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life,” MSU pitcher Landon Sims said shortly after celebrating with his team, via the team’s official website. “It still hasn’t completely set in that we’re national champions… It’s been a lot the past few weeks, the past month. Really since August with COVID and everything. A lot of hard work has paid off. And being the last team standing in college baseball was the goal. We worked really hard for that.”

The Bulldogs beat a Vanderbilt team who were the defending national champions. The Commodores won the College World Series in 2019, and the tournament wasn’t held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mississippi State won the College World Series despite having an early exit in the SEC Tournament. The squad was able to do enough in the regular season to qualify for the NCAA Regionals, which is where they started their run.

“Our kids played as free as you could be on the biggest stage,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said. “From the pitching to the defense, to the grind of having to beat one of the best pitchers in college baseball history [Kumar Rocker] and the defending champions; so proud of them. And it’s so awesome to bring back the trophy to Starkville.

“It’s our community and how much they love their baseball, it’s pretty special. And we just have a great administration here. John Cohen, our [athletic director], he’s a big part of this, and everything that he does and everything that he’s done in the past.”