Mississippi State Baseball has had a craving all year.
This craving wasn’t sweeping the regional round like State did last weekend. It’s not a win in the super regionals, clinching MSU’s first trip back to the College World Series since it won it all in 2021. In fact, this craving isn’t even baseball related.
It’s Beaver Nuggets, a brisket sandwich and a stop at a Buc-ee’s gas station.
Head coach Brian O’Connor said the team has wanted to stop at Buc-ee’s all season long, and were adamant to stop on the way from Dallas to Hattiesburg after the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in March. The Bulldogs won their first two games of the series, but an 8-7, 10-inning loss to No. 1 UCLA was enough for O’Connor to kill the dream.
“I told them they didn’t earn Buc-ees,” O’Connor said. “We didn’t beat UCLA, we didn’t finish the weekend off.”
After weeks of Buc-ee-less baseball, the time ticking down on any possibility of a team trip to visit Buc-ee Beaver himself, it seemed the only hope left was a regional weekend so good that O’Connor couldn’t say no.
But in the final seconds, the last gasp for a gas-station barbecue sandwich, the baseball and Buc-ee’s gods came together over Dudy Noble Field last weekend, fueling MSU’s best play of the entire season.
MSU destroyed Lipscomb in the regional opener 10-1, defeated No. 2 seeded Cincinnati 10-5 on Saturday and closed out the undefeated regional with a 19-5 win over Louisiana. The Bulldogs outscored their opponents 39-11 over the three games.
“They earned Buc-ees after this past weekend,” O’Connor said.
MSU stopped at a Buc-ee’s on its way to Athens, Georgia, for the super regionals on Thursday, a trip that was more than just a reward for winning baseball in the regionals. O’Connor said the stop is to keep the Bulldogs loose and having fun before their biggest series of the season.
“I think teams that want to get to Omaha so bad, they tense up. You can’t play this game that way, you can’t execute the pitches that you need to or execute offensively,” O’Connor said. “You’ve got to trust all the work that you’ve put in, and enjoy what you’ve earned… when you’ve earned something, you have a tendency to enjoy it more, and when you enjoy it more, I believe that you perform better.”
MSU will have to keep playing the best baseball it has all year against Georgia. UGA also rolled through its regional, holding opponents to just five runs over its three games. MSU played UGA four times this season, and lost all four games.
O’Connor said the team will have a 30-minute shopping spree at Buc-ee’s, and have the freedom to get “as many Beaver Nuggets as they want to get.” O’Connor was unsure during his Wednesday press conference what he was going to buy.
Jake is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for The Dispatch.
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