Moment 10 of 2018: Mississippi State baseball sweeps Florida
After spending all season scraping their way back into postseason contention, the Mississippi State baseball team would need a big final weekend.
On Friday, I revealed moment number 11 for Mississippi State. Today is moment number 10 for the Bulldogs in 2018.
The Mississippi State baseball team entered the final weekend of the regular season with a 12-15 record in SEC play and 28-24 overall. But due to some impressive wins over Ole Miss, and Arkansas, the Bulldogs had a solid RPI and a chance to still make it to an NCAA Regional with a good weekend against the top ranked Florida Gators.
Most people assumed the Bulldogs needed to win one game to make it to the NCAA Tournament, and two would give them some comfortable breathing room. The Bulldogs got both of those victories and then some.
After being down three to nothing entering the bottom of the 7th of the first game of the series, the Mississippi State baseball team would score six runs combined in the seventh and eight innings to take game one. They followed that performance up the next two games by pummeling the Gators 25-10 combined and swept the series.
Winning all three games of the series with Florida brought the Mississippi State baseball team’s record in SEC play to an even .500. This would be huge because the NCAA Tournament committee only invited one team with a conference record below .500, and that was the Texas A&M Aggies. The Bulldogs might not have made it to a regional without winning all three games.
The Mississippi State baseball team went from a team hoping for an invite to a team that was placed as a number two seed in a regional after the series with Florida was over. It was the start of what became a wild ride over the next four weeks for the Bulldogs and their fans.