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Can Mississippi State Baseball Win The 2018 Nashville Super Regional?

By Ethan Lee

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: The Mississippi State Bulldogs run in the outfield to warm up before playing the UCLA Bruins during game one of the College World Series Finals on June 24, 2013 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. UCLA won 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: The Mississippi State Bulldogs run in the outfield to warm up before playing the UCLA Bruins during game one of the College World Series Finals on June 24, 2013 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. UCLA won 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
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The Mississippi State baseball team will face an opponent that had no issue dispatching the Bulldogs earlier this season

Mississippi State baseball has come a long way since it lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores earlier this year. But that doesn’t mean that those losses didn’t happen. Vanderbilt absolutely had Mississippi State’s number back in March.

When the Mississippi State baseball team hosted the Vanderbilt Commodores back in March, the Bulldogs fell flat on their faces. MSU fell apart when trying to slow Vanderbilt down and, as such, Vandy came away with three consecutive wins against Mississippi State.

That wasn’t exactly the best way to break in SEC play at the new Dudy Noble field.

In the first game of that series, MSU fell 5-0 to Vanderbilt. Konnor Pilkington gave the Bulldogs a chance to succeed, but Mississippi State simply couldn’t produce anything at the plate to back Pilkington up. Vanderbilt’s Drew Fellows shut State down completely, giving the Bulldogs a frustrating loss.

Game two wasn’t any better. In fact, it was significantly worse. Mississippi State completely imploded, losing 10-1. The crushing loss gave Vanderbilt the series win and set a negative tone for the early part of the season.

And when Mississippi State tried to fight back and avoid getting swept, MSU couldn’t even do that. The Bulldogs put runs on the board in game three. Multiple runs in fact. However, State still fell by a score of 4-3.

Now, the Bulldogs must get through Nashville if they want to get to Omaha. That won’t be easy to do. Vanderbilt is 22-9 at home this season and is looking to defend their home turf.

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And although Mississippi State baseball is riding some momentum coming into this series, Vanderbilt is too. The Commodores won their regional in dominant fashion. Mississippi State will have its hands full this weekend. The Bulldogs can win. They really can. However, it won’t be easy to take two from Vanderbilt at home. That said, MSU has surprised people before. They can do it again.

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