STARKVILLE — The conversation stopped as soon as the ball left the bat.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis and pitching coach Scott Foxhall debated who would pitch the eighth with the Bulldogs and Notre Dame tied 8-8.

Then Logan Tanner launched a 3-2 pitch from Fighting Irish reliever Tanner Kohlhepp deep to right field.

“Once that ball went up, it was, ‘Get Landon ready,’” Lemonis said. “We’re going to play the last six outs with the best closer in the country.’”

Tanner battled back from a rough game to put the Bulldogs (44-15) in the lead for good with a solo home run, and Sims closed things out in a 9-8 win over the Fighting Irish (33-12) in Saturday’s Game 1 of the Starkville Super Regional at Dudy Noble Field.

“This game was awesome,” Sims said. “From the first pitch to the last pitch, it was a fun game.”

The Bulldogs came out on top in a back-and-forth contest characterized by short starts and clutch hits to pull within a game of their third straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

Tanner’s homer was the final blow after the catcher made five outs in just three plate appearances on a steamy Saturday afternoon in Starkville.

A smash back to Notre Dame pitcher John Michael Bertrand in the third inning? A 1-6-3 double play. A hard-hit ball up the middle in the fifth? Another twin killing thanks to a nifty stop by shortstop Zack Prajzner and a barehanded relay by second baseman Jared Miller.

Then Tanner put all that bad luck behind him by launching the baseball into the right-field seats.

“I was happy for LT,” Lemonis said. “On a big stage, a couple situations didn’t go your way, he was still mentally locked in and staying in the moment, and man, what a pretty swing.”

The Bulldogs first took the lead when center fielder Rowdey Jordan hit a two-run homer in the sixth, putting Mississippi State up 8-7 — one day after right fielder Tanner Allen told reporters he informed his teammates to “wait for postseason Rowdey.”

“Just being able to have good at-bats and good results, it’s awesome,” Jordan said. “You can’t put it into words.”

The advantage didn’t last long, though, as Notre Dame put together two doubles in the seventh to tie the game. The second came from Prajzner, who also blasted a three-run home run in the top of the fifth to go with a pair of doubles.

The Irish No. 9 hitter said he’d been working on his approach, hoping to drive the ball up the middle for a single. With the ball flying at Dudy Noble, he got even more.

“I really just was trying to put the ball in play hard, and it happened to go a little bit farther than a single, I guess,” he said.

His homer put the Irish up 7-3, but the Bulldogs quickly responded. Two errors on Prajzner helped Mississippi State strike for three runs in the inning. Notre Dame, the nation’s No. 1 fielding team, committed four errors in the contest.

“Those are going to hurt for a while, especially my two,” Prajzner said. “Those were in big spots.”

Notre Dame scored in each of the first five innings, finding success against Bulldogs starter Will Bednar. The sophomore lasted three-plus innings, giving up four runs. Right fielder Brooks Coetzee hit a solo shot to lead off the second, while the other three tallies came as a result of heavy traffic on the bases.

Designated hitter Carter Putz drove in the game’s first run with a first-inning single. Third baseman Jack Brannigan added an RBI base hit in the third, and center fielder Spencer Myers singled in a run to end Bednar’s day in the fourth. The right-hander allowed seven hits, walked two batters and hit two more in his short outing, throwing just 71 pitches.

“Their coaching staff had a great approach against Will today,” Lemonis said. “Will fought. Will competed. He got out of a couple jams. But just in the heat and with as many pitches and as many jams, we just felt it was better to go to another arm right there.”

But the Bulldogs’ offense backed its top starter with a strong showing against Bertrand and the Irish. Allen blasted a home run in the first to tie the game, and third baseman Kamren James drove in a run with a base hit before an error plated the tying run.

Notre Dame pulled ahead on Myers’ hit before Prazjner teed off on Chase Patrick in the fifth, but Mississippi State got the three runs back. James singled in a run, first baseman Luke Hancock reached on an error again to score a run and Tanner’s double play scored the third.

Sims didn’t allow a baserunner in his two innings of work, striking out three. He froze Irish first baseman Niko Kavadas on a 3-2 pitch to close a pivotal eighth inning, then quickly worked through Notre Dame’s No. 5-7 hitters in the ninth.

“If he wins that at-bat right there, it gives their dugout a little bit of momentum,” Sims said of Kavadas, who has 21 homers this season.

Game 2 will be played at 5 p.m. Sunday as the Bulldogs look to punch their ticket to Omaha after another “national championship-caliber” game, as Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett termed it.

“They just keep seeming to get bigger and bigger here,” Lemonis said.

In fact, he said, it almost seemed like a “brawl” — with an NCAA Super Regional-record 14,385 people peering down. At one point, Lemonis said, one of the Bulldogs came off the field and implored his teammates to “keep punching.”

“It’s one of those games where it’s going to be decided late, and it’ll be like that tomorrow,” Lemonis said. “It’s two really good teams, two really good offenses, two well-coached teams, and it’s just going to be like that all day.”

Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.