STARKVILLE — The scoreboard at Dudy Noble Field read 16,423.
That was Saturday’s attendance between Mississippi State and Ole Miss, setting a new NCAA baseball on-campus attendance record set by the Bulldogs in 2014 against the Rebels.
Fitting how Saturday afternoon ended much the same as nine years previous, a last-inning comeback and walk-off win, this time coming off the bat of freshman outfielder Dakota Jordan, the hero this time around as Mississippi State won, 8-7.
On a historic day in the midst of Super Bulldog Weekend, The Dude Effect was the star of the show.
“We preach to our kids, just give us a chance late,” Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said. “I thought Nate Dohm was big getting out of the ninth inning. We’ve been letting that ninth go to four or five runs and not give us a chance to win. Nate stayed out there, competed, and made a great pitch and gave us a chance for the Dude Effect…especially the ball chants. It’s hard to pitch when you have all that going on.”
At the time of Jordan’s walk-off single that caromed off the glove of Ole Miss third baseman Ethan Lege, Rebels reliever Sam Tookoian had walked three batters in the inning, including the previous batter, designated hitter Hunter Hines.
Chants of “Ball Seven”, despite Hines working a 3-2 count, started amongst the Left Field Lounge.
Just moments later, a crowd that included women’s basketball head coach Sam Purcell, former Bulldog legends Jeffrey Simmons, Dak Prescott and KJ Wright, and Mississippi State fans young and old, went into an absolute frenzy.
“It’s nice to have an ending like that for those guys,” Lemonis said. “It’s nice to get a reward for playing hard. We don’t play the game as clean as we should, but they’re competing. In front of that crowd, it’s a fun day at the park.”
A moment like what transpired at the end of Saturday’s game is one that not many have experienced, but big players step up in big moments.
On Jackie Robinson Day for Major League Baseball, a Bulldog wearing the No. 42 jersey stepped up with arguably the biggest hit of the last two seasons.
“It was exactly what I said,” Jordan said. “Being up there. My approach coming up there was that they’re not going to get me again, be a hard-nosed guy, do whatever you have to do to get the win. That’s what I did … I don’t know what I was thinking. I blacked out.”
The Dude was packed to the brim, standing room all-around the concourse, from the outfield to behind home plate.
Bottlenecks going in and out of the infield concourse made it difficult to maneuver, but everyone was focused on watching Mississippi State take down an in-state rival it had played more than 400 previous times.
Samford transfer Colton Ledbetter had yet to experience anything close to this, but after hitting two home runs in the win, he and the Bulldogs settled in well to the unprecedented atmosphere.
“I usually had parents in lawn chairs down the line, about 50 of them,” Ledbetter said. “It was crazy, but you just have to stay in the zone, stay locked in and have confidence in yourself like you do every game … These fans keep coming out, keep supporting us, keep showing us love. Like Dakota said, we did our thing and they did their thing.”
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