STARKVILLE — A two-hour, 10-minute rain delay Sunday couldn’t stop Mississippi State’s party.
Playing host to a baseball regional for the second time in four seasons, No. 4 Mississippi State stamped its super regional invite with a 4-0 victory against Louisiana Tech that finished a few minutes shy of Monday morning.
“The crowd was really great,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “Had we played this game in Ruston or a neutral site, it night have been a different outcome. We needed that support. It was a long night for everyone.”
Instead, MSU went 3-0 in the Starkville Regional. It was the first time in 12 home regionals that the Bulldogs captured a championship by going undefeated. It was MSU’s first shutout in regional play since a 3-0 victory against Southern Mississippi in the 2011 Atlanta Regional at Georgia Tech.
MSU will play Louisiana-Lafayette or Arizona in the Starkville Super Regional, which will begin this weekend. Game dates, times, and television assignments will be finalized later today. Arizona beat Sam Houston State 6-5 Sunday night. It will play Louisiana-Lafayette at 1 p.m. today. The Wildcats (40-21) need to beat the Ragin’ Cajuns (43-19) twice today to advance.
Thousands of fans began lining up outside Dudy Noble Field two hours prior to Sunday’s scheduled first pitch of 6:34 p.m. Shortly after Louisiana Tech eliminated Cal State Fullerton with a 6-2 victory, a line of thunderstorms moved through the area and it rained for more than 90 minutes.
Despite an 8:44 p.m. start time, the game drew a crowd of 9,092. MSU played in front of the nation’s largest single-game crowd in two of its three games. Saturday’s crowd of 10,656 for a 4-1 victory against Cal State Fullerton was the largest
single-game crowd at a regional this season.
The Oxford and Baton Rouge regionals also had one crowd that was more than 10,000.
MSU again set the standard by selling more than 7,000 all-tournament passes. The six games at Dudy Noble Field drew a combined crowd of 45,076.
Moving on
MSU will make its sixth super regional appearance. It will play host to a super regional for a second time after defeating Clemson in the 2013 Starkville Super Regional for a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
This is the first time in program history MSU has hosted a regional and super regional in the same season. The Bulldogs are also playing as a national seed (No. 6) for the first time.
One upset already has taken place, as No. 7 national seed Clemson lost to Oklahoma State in the Clemson Regional. No. 5 national seed Texas Tech will face Dallas Baptist in a winner-take-all game today in the Lubbock Regional.
Virginia, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss were other host squads that failed to advance.
Extended family
Louisiana Tech second-year coach Greg Goff has earned some national coach of the year consideration after leading the Bulldogs to their first NCAA regional appearance since 1987.
Louisiana Tech finished 42-20 after a 4-0 loss to Mississippi State. Goff’s team relied on a potent offense to remain near the top of the Conference USA standings.
On Sunday night, Zac Houston and Ryan Rigby combined for a two-hit shutout. It was Tech’s fifth shutout of the season. Earlier in the regional, Cal State Fullerton beat Louisiana Tech 1-0. However, that loss was avenged in a 6-2 elimination bracket victory Sunday afternoon.
“Could not be prouder of a group of men,” said Goff, who came to Ruston from Campbell University. “The seniors will always be that class that helped turned things around. When we first got here, we met with the players. Some didn’t want to be a part of what we were going to try to do. It wasn’t for everybody.
“For those who committed and bought in, they realized that this is just the starting point.”
Cameron Linck pitched six solid innings to help Louisiana Tech eliminate Cal State Fullerton. He allowed two earned runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out five.
Louisiana Tech built a 4-0 lead through five innings before Cal State Fullerton responded with two runs. But the Bulldogs added runs in the sixth and eighth to pull away.
Nate Harris threw three scoreless innings of relief to earn the save.
In 2014, Louisiana Tech won 15 games. Goff’s first squad finished 25-27 a year ago. This season, the roster included 23 junior college transfers as Louisiana Tech quickly turned the corner and parlayed a fifth-place finish in Conference USA into the No. 3 seed in this tournament.
Big West Conference regular-season champion and second-seeded Cal State Fullerton (36-23) dropped a 4-1 decision to Mississippi State on Saturday night before bowing out with the 6-2 loss to Louisiana Tech on Sunday. The Titans scored four runs in their three games in the regional.
Tournament honors
MSU sophomore designated hitter Brent Rooker was chosen Most Outstanding Player of the regional.
Rooker was 4-for-10 with six RBIs and two home runs.
The all-tournament team included catcher Jack Kruger (MSU), first baseman Cody Daigle (Louisiana Tech), second baseman Trevor Ezell (Southeast Missouri State), shortstop Ryan Gridley (MSU), third baseman Jake Pavletich (Cal State Fullerton), designated hitter Rooker, outfielders Reid Humphreys (MSU), Jake Mangum (MSU), and J.D. Perry (Louisiana Tech), and pitchers Houston (MSU) and Phillip Diehl (Louisiana Tech).
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.