[ad_1]
OMAHA, Neb. – Moments before the dish appeared on Saturday night in the College World Series, a few Mississippi State teammates from Tanner Leggett approached him in a dugout.
They told him he had a chance to win the game.
At least on paper, the opportunity for it didn’t exactly inspire confidence – 5 feet 10 and 164 pounds, Leggett was a .206 career hitter with only two record appearances last month. In one of them earlier this week at CWS, he ran the loaded bases.
But tied for the end of the ninth game on Saturday night in a win-or-go home game with Texas, the prediction turned out to be true. And Leggett isn’t grumbling.
“Some people are nervous about this situation,” he said. “But I pray for this situation.”
Leggett rope the RBI one to the left midfield, lifting the Mississippi State 4-3 playoff win from second-seeded Longhorns to a trip on Monday to the top three finals against Vanderbilt. A lot was on the line on Saturday for the Bulldogs, who aren’t just looking for their first national championship in 12 trials in Omaha. They play in Mississippi State’s first national championship in any team sport.
None of this disappeared for Leggett, who grew up in Randolph, Mississippi, and, like most of the state’s boys, dreamed of dressing in maroon and white. The trip first took Leggett and teammate Brayland Skinner to Northwest Mississippi Community College. And in front of the packed TD Ameritrade Park on Saturday, Leggett drove in Skinner, which sprint home from another base.
Skinner is another of the Bulldogs ’role players. He ran in the jumps in the ninth, and he stole the second with a high speed ball earlier in Leggett’s attack. Coach Chris Lemonis calls them JUCO bandits, and one of the things he’s told his team this week is that getting the title takes it all.
It also takes some flexibility. The Bulldogs sat on an 8-5 loss to Texas on a long rain delay on Friday night, a game that only ended after 2 p.m.
“I told the team last night when the rain was delayed, ‘If you ever think it’s going to be easy, it’s not our way,'” Lemonis said.[It] it seems we have to be dramatic. We have to fight for it, and to get here, it was a fight. Our team has been so flexible all year. Probably the number one quality is only rough, we will be able to stay locked, focused and continue to compete. “
The state of Mississippi retreated 3-1 after Mike Antico’s RBI double in the fifth match, but tied the game sixth with Longhorns pitcher Tristan Stevens for the third time through the order. The Bulldogs appeared on the verge of opening the game by opening the turn and loading the bases with air outwards. But the Texas relay on Cole Quintan hit the next three punches, then jumped and rubbed his glove.
The Longhorns needed to stretch the Quintanilla – they ran through their Bullpen arms for a long week in the elimination holder. And Quintanilla delivered, facing the minimum number in the seventh and eighth innings.
“I just went out and tried to leave everything out of line for my brothers,” Quintanilla said. “We’re just doing everything we can to keep us in the game.”
Even before the teams left on Saturday night, it was also clear that the Bulldogs were driving at their two best – Will Bednar and Landon Sims. They combined 21 strikes last week with a 2-1 win over Longhorns in their first match at CWS, an important game that kept them among the winners for most of the week.
On Saturday night, Bednar scattered four hits and three runs over 6 1/3 of the innings and hit seven. Then Sims took the hill. Eight starts in addition to a small offensive aid, and the Bulldogs were in the finals. He retired from the next five percussion instruments, four of which were on strike, and waved his shoulder back and forth.
Sims hit the ninth tip in the lead batter, but was almost perfect. He did not allow hits or walking. Sims said he was sure the Bulldog strikers would finish the game at the bottom of the ninth.
One outward Kellum Clark reached when he hit foot to foot. Then Skinner’s pinch ran, and Leggett emptied the chute. Skinner threw a helmet at the party, and the Bulldogs ran to Leggett and flocked him to the field.
Leggett said it was his first starting hit after high school. As the swarm surrounded him, Leggett said the darkness was sort of. Sims tore Leggett’s shirt, but Leggett didn’t seem to care. The defensive compensation for the seventh match was right where he was supposed to be.
“As soon as it went from the bat,” Sims said, “I think everyone in the well knew it was a game there. You know, he put really good swings in it. Probably the best swing of his life. I think he said it.”
[ad_2]
picture credit