OMAHA, Neb. — As he stepped to the plate, Tanner Allen thought of the three words written on his outfielder’s glove: “It don’t matter.”
It didn’t matter that Mississippi State didn’t have a single hit going into the eighth inning. Or the Bulldogs trailed Virginia 4-0 with six outs separating them from the losers’ bracket. That Allen, the SEC player of the year, was 0 for Omaha.
“As I was struggling throughout the game, I tried my best to just stay positive and keep the energy in the dugout and keep playing good defense, because I knew eventually I’d get a chance to help us win the game,” Allen said.
The Bulldogs started to rally. Allen knew they would. He was the go-ahead run. He knew he would be. And when he came up with runners on second and third and Mississippi State down 4-2, the MSU right fielder delivered a moment that buried all those meaningless moments far beneath the Nebraska dirt.
He hammered a misplaced breaking ball into the right-field bullpen and rounded the bases slowly, keeping a straight face. No one else did.
Bulldogs fans around TD Ameritrade Park cheered and screamed and hugged. Reliever Preston Johnson embraced teammate Brandon Smith in the right-field bullpen where Allen’s missile had just landed, relief evident on his face. Virginia pitcher Stephen Schoch — once Allen’s teammate, now just a vanquished foe — wore a scowl as he disembarked from the mound.
Only at the end, as he greeted Josh Hatcher and Rowdey Jordan behind home plate, did Allen let out a smile.
His three-run home run put No. 7 Mississippi State ahead for good as the Bulldogs (47-16) rallied for six runs in an unbelievable eighth inning, held on for a 6-5 win over the Cavaliers (36-26) and remained undefeated in the College World Series.
“The ability to take a punch and keep playing is one of the greatest assets that we have,” Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said.
Tuesday night, the Bulldogs wilted under the heavy strain of body blow after body blow from an unseeded but unmerciful Virginia team. Starter Griff McGarry was untouchable through seven hitless frames, while the Cavaliers jumped on Christian MacLeod, tagging him for five runs in four innings with a barrage of base hits.
“I hated it for Christian,” Lemonis said. “We get here — he’s one of the big reasons why we’re here — and just didn’t have a good night.”
But Mississippi State bounced off the ropes with renewed vigor. Scotty Dubrule drew a walk to lead off the eighth. One out later, Kellum Clark blasted the first pitch he saw into the Bulldogs’ bullpen, sending his own teammate ducking for cover.
“We got on the board, and we got the monkey off our back as a team,” Allen said.
It was hardly a fitting thank-you gift for a relief corps that kept Mississippi State afloat all evening when Virginia seemed constantly on the precipice of breaking the contest open. Preston Johnson stranded the bases loaded in the second. Chase Patrick escaped a jam by inducing a double play in the fourth. Cam Tullar left two on in the sixth.
When Landon Sims finished off a four-out save with a strikeout of Alex Teppen, he completed a tremendous night for Mississippi State’s bullpen: 7.2 innings from seven different relievers, six strikeouts, seven hits and just one run.
“You just can’t let people score,” Lemonis said. “It’s hard enough for us to catch them. Just can’t let them keep getting runs, and we were able to do that tonight.”
The only damage against a Bulldogs reliever was a solo home run from Virginia’s Chris Newell, who cut the Hoos’ deficit in half by taking Stone Simmons deep in the eighth. But Sims got a lineout from UVA star Kyle Teel and powered through the middle third of the order in a 1-2-3 ninth.
He sealed a dramatic Mississippi State win that barely 45 minutes before looked as likely as, well, a College World Series played anywhere but Omaha.
But despite the distance, Bulldogs fans made their presence known. Quiet for more than seven innings as McGarry mowed down Mississippi State batter after batter, those clad in maroon and white inside TD Ameritrade began a slow crescendo.
They clapped when pinch-hitter Josh Hatcher legged out a two-strike infield single after Clark’s home run. They screamed — not without considerable alarm — when Rowdey Jordan doubled and turned for third, not realizing Hatcher had seen the ball late and held up there. Jordan dashed back to an uncovered second base, sparing the Bulldogs a backbreaking blunder.
That left first base open and practically waiting for Allen, who realized straight away Virginia was likely to dole out an intentional walk.
“I’m probably not going to get much to hit, but I’m definitely going to look for a ball up in the zone,” he thought.
Instead, Schoch hung a 1-0 breaking ball belt high on the outside part of the plate. Allen didn’t miss it.
“It seems to be when the game’s on the line we have a way to get him at the plate,” Lemonis said. “He produced again. He’s been like that all year long. He’s been the guy that just gets us going. And, man, what a great hit.”
Allen’s homer led Mississippi State to a win massive on its surface but significant for so much more. Instead of playing their next game Thursday, the Bulldogs will play Friday. Instead of having to navigate an elimination contest with No. 2 Texas, they’ll sit back and wait for either the Longhorns or the Cavaliers to limp out of the losers’ bracket.
But they know the goal they came to Omaha to accomplish isn’t done yet.
“We didn’t come here to win two games,” Sims said. “We came here to win five games — or more, if anything else happens. But it was really good to see everybody go out there and play really, really well tonight.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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.