The Diamond Dawgs Will Be Among the Last 4 Teams Alive in Omaha
In another thrilling game Mississippi State beats Indiana on Monday night, 5-4. Yet another game filled with comebacks, drama, heart palpitations, severe hand sweating, etc. It was hard to breathe at the end there, but the Bulldogs pulled it off and now they’re headed to the top of the winner’s bracket where they will have to be beaten twice by the winner of Wednesday’s Oregon St./Indiana game.
When IU’s freshman pitcher was wild in the first inning this game seemed at hand, but you have to hand it to him – he settled down and they eventually took a 3-1 lead. Trevor Fitts did pretty well, and Chad Girodo was great again except for the inning he came in (3rd), giving up a couple of hits and a couple of walks allowing them to score two runs. But after that Chad was dynamic again, striking out at least 10 batters for the third consecutive relief outing. He seemed to get better and better as the game wore on – until the 9th inning when the Hoosiers mounted a rally. They just missed a game-tying home run and with runners on 1st & 2nd with 1 out you knew all of Bulldog nation was getting a knot in their stomach once again. But the next batter grounded out scoring their 4th run, and then Johnathon Holder got a weak ground ball back to him, and despite throwing it into the ground Wes Rea was able to corral it and end the game.
How about Wes Rea? He has come up huge (no pun intended) in the 8th inning of both CWS games. This time getting a base hit to give State runners on 1st & 3rd down 3-2. Then he keeps his concentration and catches Holder’s wild throw at the end.
How about Trey Porter? After being a starter all year in 2012 he has been relegated to the bench and has had scarce at bats but he comes in during the 6th inning, nearly hits a grand slam and then in the 8th delivers a line drive into right center scoring two runs to take a 5-3 lead.
How about Demarcus Henderson? Two more hits with runners in scoring position including the game-tying RBI in the 8th. That came right after a C.T. Bradford strikeout and MSU really needed him to come through. He just keeps grinding.
This win ties State’s best run of all time in the College World Series. In 1985 the Dawgs won the first two before losing the next two. Hopefully this year is a different result. But just to put what this team has done into perspective – this is as far as we’ve ever gotten.
Last night’s game was win #50 on the year, and postseason win #10. The latter breaks an all-time MSU record set by the 1990 team.
3 more wins. Hail State!