STARKVILLE — In the midst of an at-bat in the fourth inning Sunday, the 9,014 fans at Dudy Noble Field burst into cheers.
“Maroon!” yelled the folks sitting on the third-base side of the grandstand.
“White!” responded their first-base counterparts.
Momentarily, “The Dude” was engulfed in bellowing chants that mimicked Saturdays in the fall at Davis Wade Stadium.
“In college baseball, you do not have stadiums like this,” Mississippi State senior center fielder Jake Mangum said. “When you get opposing teams to come in here, it almost shell shocks you. I am still not used to it.”
For weeks, MSU had preached it needed a strong home crowd come playoff time. The MSU faithful delivered Saturday and Sunday, as over 20,000 people made it to Dudy Noble Field for the final two days of the NCAA tournament’s Starkville Regional.
Those fans helped give top-seeded and No. 6 national seed MSU an advantage it capitalized on in a clinching 5-2 victory against second-seeded Miami.
The victory sends MSU (49-13) on to the best-of-three Super Regional, where it will play host to No. 11 national seed Stanford or Fresno State.
When the MSU Athletic Department announced plans for renovations to Dudy Noble Field, fans responded with concerns they would lose the old-school nature of a venue that has earned the distinction of being the Carnegie Hall of College Baseball.
On Sunday, there was an eerie feel. The smoke from the Left Field Lounge grills simmered above the low-hanging outfield lights.
Fans lined the bannisters down the first- and third-base lines as standing room only onlookers took in the Bulldogs’ victory against the Hurricanes (41-20).
But the concerns about intimacy were lost. The baseball capitol of the South looked the part.
“It is the pinnacle of college baseball,” MSU baseball coach Chris Lemonis said of the raucous playoff atmosphere. “I know there are some other great places, but I know there is nothing better than Dudy Noble.”
Beyond the MSU contingent of fans, the Bulldogs’ visitors marveled about the extravagance of the atmosphere.
“I think our guys have been soaking it up, and soaking it up and enjoying it,” Central Michigan coach Jordan Bischel said. “I think it creates a great experience for our guys.”
Said Miami coach Gino DiMare, “The fans here are awesome. Mississippi State fans are first class people. They cheer for their team, and I did not hear anything derogatory. As a matter of fact, some of our players came to the game last night, and they were very friendly to our guys.”
As MSU celebrated its fourth-straight Super Regional berth, the Bulldogs took a victory lap down the lines.
Trotting around the warning track, the team received high fives along the outfield wall as fans clambered over the barrier to touch their beloved Bulldogs.
As the night closed, Mangum was asked about the crowd in his second-to-last weekend of competition in Starkville.
“Mississippi State baseball means a lot to the people,” Mangum said. “They came and they were loud.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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