John Cohen has taken MSU to the highest of highs and lowest of lows during his seven-season tenure with Mississippi State. So with the violent swings of emotion we’ve been through during his time as head coach in mind, why not rank the top five teams in MSU baseball history, coupled with the five worst?
Through 125 seasons of Mississippi State/A&M baseball, I’ve come up with these ten teams that comprise the best and worst the program has offered. While this list does include the best and worst of times, the bad teams are much harder to find – the fact remains that MSU baseball has held a strong tradition of success which not many other baseball programs can say.
Let’s get started…
Number Five
Worst: 1946
This team was 0-12 (0-11). You can’t get much worse than that BUT you have to give them somewhat of a pass considering Coach Dudy Noble didn’t field a team in 1944 or 1945 due to World War II. It was a rough start to get back in the swing of things but he did turn it around the following year to go 8-8.
Best: 1971
This team really put Mississippi State baseball on the map. Coached by Paul Gregory, they were the first Bulldog team to make it to the College World Series (lost in the first two games). During the regular season they won the SEC with a 13-5 conference record. This gave Gregory back-to-back SEC titles, and was the high point of his tenure. Unfortunately things began to make a turn for the worst, and he was never able to achieve a winning conference record again, and ultimately a losing overall record in 1974 in his final year on the job.
Next: The Best MSU Team that Didn't Make it to Omaha