Up until Mississippi State capped off their baseball season with the College World Series Championship, there were only 3 of the 65 major college programs to never have won a national championship in a team sport. Sure, that sounds like an overly specific stat ESPN throws in to make the bottom ticker more interesting, but it doesn’t matter, there’s only 2 now. Mississippi State left behind Virginia Tech and Kansas State to be that bit of useless sports trivia.
The three game series college baseball uses to cap off the annual double elimination tournament in Omaha had the same story, pretty much each day. Game 1 was an offensive explosion and pitching dominance from Vanderbilt. Game 2 it was Mississippi State’s turn to turn up the offense and pitching. Game 3, state turned the offense on early and cruised to the win with dominant pitching. Those are the cliff notes, but this three day journey had more.
Every June the college baseball world descends upon Omaha. It’s not a city that is known for tourism or nightlife. It doesn’t have an oversized, state of the art stadium that players can only dream about playing in. For some reason though, for college baseball it works. Outside of the tournament and the college towns itself, college baseball doesn’t get much attention. The unassuming nature of Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park make it a perfect fit for the sport. The College World Series has been here for 70 years, and because of that it’s become the iconic pilgrimage for college fans.
The matchup this year made the pilgrimage a little more one-sided that normal. Vanderbilt is one of those schools that fans just don’t travel. Mississippi State though was the exact opposite. The fans seemed to know this was their year. The stadium looked like it was in Starkville rather than in Omaha with the sea of maroon in the stands. The biggest names in State sports came out to be a part of this moment. Dak Prescott, Raphael Palmeiro, Jonathan Papelbon were all in attendance. The reaction from each showed just how much this championship meant to them. Dak was up shouting as much as you see him when he’s winning on Sunday. Palmeiro looked like a proud father watching his son on the field, holding up his camera recording every moment. The roar of the fans and clanging of cowbells was ruckus.
The game itself was fairly anticlimactic. The Bulldogs dominated in every aspect of the game. Starting pitcher Will Bednar threw 6 no-hit innings. Vandy didn’t see their first, and only hit, until the 8th inning. A combined one-hit shutout is an impressive way to take control of a winner-take-all game. This was a team effort though, the offense shinned just as bright. The small ball was going early racking up a 3 run lead. And just to hammer it home, State decided to hit a couple dingers to put the game to bed at 9-0. It’s a good thing the stadium was mostly Miss State fans, otherwise it would have seemed boring and empty. As it was though, those late home runs got the fans even more engaged and excited. When the final out was recorded it was the storybook ending for this baseball team, and a school to finally get their first national championship.