https://www.ncaa.com/news/baseball/...force-be-reckoned-omaha?utm_campaign=trending
[FONT="]OMAHA, Neb. — And now you begin to wonder if maybe it is Mississippi State’s time.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]It was a game that went thisaway Tuesday night, before it went thataway, and karma changed sides in less time than it takes to eat a hot dog. Omaha lives for U-turns like this. And its beneficiary almost always goes away feeling as if it can conquer the world. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]“Crazy college baseball game,” Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis would say later. “That's typical baseball.”[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The team that went into the eighth inning without a hit, trailing 4-0 . . . left the eighth with six hits, two home runs and a 6-4 lead. That was Mississippi State. “We talked to the team about it's hard to get the last outs in Omaha,” Lemonis said[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The team that scored four runs in its first 10 hitters . . . managed only one more all night with its next 32 batters. That was Virginia.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The starting pitcher who came into the game with an 0-5 record and 6.06 earned run average was spectacular. That was Virginia’s Griff McGarry, who did not give up a hit until his 98th pitch. Which Kellum Clark knocked into the right field stands.
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Clark is Mississippi State’s No. 8 hitter. Strange thing. The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters are hitting .295 in this College World Series, with 23 RBI and six home runs. Jayson Gonzalez hit a homer and walk-off single for Vanderbilt against Arizona from the No. 9 spot. Logan Michaels’ had his nationally applauded home run for Virginia on Father’s Day in front of his cancer-stricken father at No. 8. Texas had five RBI earlier Tuesday from Eric Kennedy and Silas Ardoin, Nos. 8 and 9. So much for the idea the bottom of the lineup can’t hurt you in Omaha.
Still, it was the No. 2 hitter, Allen, who turned around the game for good when he walked to the plate to face Schoch. Up to then, it had not been a good night.
“But I have it written on my glove in the outfield, "It don't matter,’” he said. “Those three at-bats are behind me. I knew I had another at-bat or two to make a difference in the game. I knew I had a base open. I knew they weren't going to throw me a fastball. So I kind of had an idea. I was just trying to get a slider up in the zone so I could do some damage with it."
“Sometimes you get 'em; sometimes you don't.”
That’s the narrow ledge every team walks here. So far, Mississippi State seems to know the way.
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[FONT="]OMAHA, Neb. — And now you begin to wonder if maybe it is Mississippi State’s time.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]It was a game that went thisaway Tuesday night, before it went thataway, and karma changed sides in less time than it takes to eat a hot dog. Omaha lives for U-turns like this. And its beneficiary almost always goes away feeling as if it can conquer the world. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]“Crazy college baseball game,” Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis would say later. “That's typical baseball.”[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The team that went into the eighth inning without a hit, trailing 4-0 . . . left the eighth with six hits, two home runs and a 6-4 lead. That was Mississippi State. “We talked to the team about it's hard to get the last outs in Omaha,” Lemonis said[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The team that scored four runs in its first 10 hitters . . . managed only one more all night with its next 32 batters. That was Virginia.[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]The starting pitcher who came into the game with an 0-5 record and 6.06 earned run average was spectacular. That was Virginia’s Griff McGarry, who did not give up a hit until his 98th pitch. Which Kellum Clark knocked into the right field stands.
------------------------------------------------
Clark is Mississippi State’s No. 8 hitter. Strange thing. The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters are hitting .295 in this College World Series, with 23 RBI and six home runs. Jayson Gonzalez hit a homer and walk-off single for Vanderbilt against Arizona from the No. 9 spot. Logan Michaels’ had his nationally applauded home run for Virginia on Father’s Day in front of his cancer-stricken father at No. 8. Texas had five RBI earlier Tuesday from Eric Kennedy and Silas Ardoin, Nos. 8 and 9. So much for the idea the bottom of the lineup can’t hurt you in Omaha.
Still, it was the No. 2 hitter, Allen, who turned around the game for good when he walked to the plate to face Schoch. Up to then, it had not been a good night.
“But I have it written on my glove in the outfield, "It don't matter,’” he said. “Those three at-bats are behind me. I knew I had another at-bat or two to make a difference in the game. I knew I had a base open. I knew they weren't going to throw me a fastball. So I kind of had an idea. I was just trying to get a slider up in the zone so I could do some damage with it."
“Sometimes you get 'em; sometimes you don't.”
That’s the narrow ledge every team walks here. So far, Mississippi State seems to know the way.
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