The 2021 diamond dogs had 'it'....

[thekimmer]

First of all I get a little miffed when I hear our own fans diminish our accomplishment by talking about how much luck helped us out. Pretty much every champion in every sport gets their share of breaks along the way, especially in baseball. We were no exception in our quest but also were not exceptionally lucky either. In fact, we had to overcome more than our share of the kind of bad breaks that derailed many of our more talented teams. We had to overcome the misfortune of having one of our best arms completely lose his effectiveness in the post season. I still marvel at how we overcame that. We had the misfortune of facing a 6+ ERA guy in the CWS who suddenly found his stuff and became the arguably the best pitcher we faced all season but we found a way to overcome it. We had the misfortune of having a team on the other side of the bracket getting walkover & not having to play an entire game due to covid and as a result was able save both top 5 starters for us and we overcame it. Sure we might have been playing NCS instead but they would have had to play that extra game too.

My only explanation is while this team had its challenges, it also had 'it'. The best I can define 'it' is a level of never quit, never get rattled mental toughness and focus to see them through challenges that felled other perhaps more talented teams in the past. As a result, they now live in bulldog infamy.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

We were definitely deserving of our 7th seed. Not as talented on paper, but we had just enough of our pitching get SUPER HOT at the right time. Who really thought Johnson, Harding, and even Bednar were going to be that lights out in those last two games?
We had the hardest road in the CWS without a doubt and Notre Dame was the toughest team not to make it out of the Super Regionals.
Hell yea we were lucky. But we fought harder and as Coach Corbin said, the Diamond Dawgs were not intimidated... by any team or any one.
True Maroon Grit!
Hail State!

 

[Cow College]

I bet Arkansas would disagree with ND being the best team not to make it out of the Super Regionals

 

[thekimmer]

We indeed did get some luck along the way but....

We were definitely deserving of our 7th seed. Not as talented on paper, but we had just enough of our pitching get SUPER HOT at the right time. Who really thought Johnson, Harding, and even Bednar were going to be that lights out in those last two games?
We had the hardest road in the CWS without a doubt and Notre Dame was the toughest team not to make it out of the Super Regionals.
Hell yea we were lucky. But we fought harder and as Coach Corbin said, the Diamond Dawgs were not intimidated... by any team or any one.
True Maroon Grit!
Hail State!

An example of things that irritates me are like this: When we beat texas 2-1: "Hey I know we beat TX 2-1 but it was all because we were so incredibly lucky with that freak triple cumbest hit down the line" The way I look at it is cumbest put the ball in play against a very good pitcher and something good happened. That is baseball. We also put some good swings on balls that went right to fielders. That's baseball too. We also pitched an incredible game to hold TX to just one run. I think luck tends to favor the best prepared.

 

[AllbyMyRelf]

Instead of “infamy,” I’d use honor, reverence, or fame. Infamy means bad.

 

[thekimmer]

I bet Arkansas would disagree with ND being the best team not to make it out of the Super Regionals

I would say to Arkansas that the fact they were beaten by a 2 seed at their house does not support their argument. ND was a #10 national seed.

 

[wsjmsu75]

An example of things that irritates me are like this: When we beat texas 2-1: "Hey I know we beat TX 2-1 but it was all because we were so incredibly lucky with that freak triple cumbest hit down the line" The way I look at it is cumbest put the ball in play against a very good pitcher and something good happened. That is baseball. We also put some good swings on balls that went right to fielders. That's baseball too. We also pitched an incredible game to hold TX to just one run. I think luck tends to favor the best prepared.

I would say that we got the little bit of luck we needed to push us to the top in the bottom of the 9th Saturday night against Texas. Their reliever was totally shutting us down until he hit Clark's back foot on a downward breaking ball on a two strike count. Then, we pinch run with Skinner, Skinner goes for the steal, and the throw is way high, when any kind of decent throw gets him out easily. And then he scores the winning run on the hit by Leggett. The hit batter and the high throw were just the breaks we needed. Beyond that, I would say that we made our own breaks the whole way. Hail State!! National Champions!!

 

[thekimmer]

Good point...

Honored glory sounds good.

 

[dorndawg]

Instead of “infamy,” I’d use honor, reverence, or fame. Infamy means bad.

 

[thekimmer]

I would say that we got the little bit of luck we needed to push us to the top in the bottom of the 9th Saturday night against Texas. Their reliever was totally shutting us down until he hit Clark's back foot on a downward breaking ball on a two strike count. Then, we pinch run with Skinner, Skinner goes for the steal, and the throw is way high, when any kind of decent throw gets him out easily. And then he scores the winning run on the hit by Leggett. The hit batter and the high throw were just the breaks we needed. Beyond that, I would say that we made our own breaks the whole way. Hail State!! National Champions!!

The hit batter and high throw were lack of execution by Texas.

 

[wsjmsu75]

The hit batter and high throw were lack of execution by Texas.

Pretty sure that was my point about the "luck" part. Just goes to show that every team that gets thru the postseason grind to reach the mountain top needs 3 things:

1) A really good team
2) Hot at the right time
3) A few lucky breaks along the way

 

[MSUDC11]

I bet Arkansas would disagree with ND being the best team not to make it out of the Super Regionals

Arkansas in June was a far cry from what they were in the regular season. They were fortunate to even get past a so-so Nebraska team in the Regional.

 

[Dawg1979]

if anyone questions whether we won it fair and square, tell them to 17 off. they aren't worth your time or breath. repeat after me, 17 off!

 

[johnson86-1]

First of all I get a little miffed when I hear our own fans diminish our accomplishment by talking about how much luck helped us out. Pretty much every champion in every sport gets their share of breaks along the way, especially in baseball. We were no exception in our quest but also were not exceptionally lucky either. In fact, we had to overcome more than our share of the kind of bad breaks that derailed many of our more talented teams. We had to overcome the misfortune of having one of our best arms completely lose his effectiveness in the post season. I still marvel at how we overcame that. We had the misfortune of facing a 6+ ERA guy in the CWS who suddenly found his stuff and became the arguably the best pitcher we faced all season but we found a way to overcome it. We had the misfortune of having a team on the other side of the bracket getting walkover & not having to play an entire game due to covid and as a result was able save both top 5 starters for us and we overcame it. Sure we might have been playing NCS instead but they would have had to play that extra game too.

My only explanation is while this team had its challenges, it also had 'it'. The best I can define 'it' is a level of never quit, never get rattled mental toughness and focus to see them through challenges that felled other perhaps more talented teams in the past. As a result, they now live in bulldog infamy.

Yea, I would think we relied relatively little on luck compared to past champions. We were a national championship caliber team all year. Most of the year, it looked like it was Arkansas and Vandy at the top, and then us, and a few others just slightly behind them. By the end of the year, Harding stepped up and Bednar became more consistently dominant just as McLeod lost it, and it all balanced out. Also had some bottom of the lineup players make some strides at the end of the year, which I think usually happens for champions.

We were "lucky" in that Arkansas and Vandy weren't playing their best at the end of the year, but I would say Texas, Virginia, and Notre Dame were playing at their best and were basically as good as either were during the year, and then Vandy was essentially spotted a game by not having to win their way to the championship series. I think it's a fair argument that NCSt was playing better than Vandy at the time, but I don't think there's any argument that NcSt with a depleted bullpen is definitely better than Vandy with a fresh Leiter. We earned a championship while generally having worse luck than most champions (basically all of whom are relatively lucky).

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

Damn right all of them are "relatively lucky."

You ain't winning the CWS in its current format without a rabbit's foot in your back pocket and 17 ton of Hail Marys.

 

[MSUDC11]

Damn right all of them are "relatively lucky."

You ain't winning the CWS in its current format without a rabbit's foot in your back pocket and 17 ton of Hail Marys.

The talk after the Virginia game was all about how we needed to beat Texas without using Bednar so that we could have him fresh for Game 1. With the benefit of hindsight, losing that Friday night game to Texas may have been a blessing in disguise. Willy B was clearly better than a short rested Rocker, it would’ve been a lot closer to a push against a fully rested Leiter. Plus had we lost Game 1 to Vandy with Bednar, MacLeod would’ve started one of the next two must win games and that might have been a disaster just like his actual start (don’t mean to pile on C Mac, I think he deserves more credit for our success this season than he’s gotten).

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

Plus had we lost Game 1 to Vandy with Bednar, MacLeod would’ve started one of the next two must win games and that might have been a disaster just like his actual start (don’t mean to pile on C Mac, I think he deserves more credit for our success this season than he’s gotten).

This is why Lemonis should never be questioned.... ever again.

 

[kired]

I've always felt like close college baseball games come down to who plays the best defense. Just see Oregon St and Arkansas, a missed pop up is the difference in who wins the natty. That's just the way college baseball is. Everyone is going to get some "lucky" breaks because no team is ever perfect (unless you're MSU in the 2021 CWS). If you can limit mistakes and capitalize on the breaks you get - you'll win a lot of baseball games. If we don't play perfect defense, we probably lose one of those Texas games.

This CWS was also the perfect example of why I'm ready for college football to expand the playoffs. A championship isn't about finding the most successful team each season - we didn't win the SEC, embarrassed in the SEC tournament, but played excellent baseball when it mattered most. A championship should be about bringing together the best teams and letting them battle it out. Giving an opportunity to those teams that develop throughout the year and pull it all together to make a run like we did. I mean.... look at Cumbest and Clark - weren't even regular starters until May. We don't win a championship without those guys.

In football you can be the best team in November and it doesn't matter because you slipped up in September. And that sucks.

 

[hogfan14]

Arkansas in June was a far cry from what they were in the regular season. They were fortunate to even get past a so-so Nebraska team in the Regional.

I tend to agree with you but they had just won the SEC Tournament the week before that. Nebraska won the Big 10, not sure the last time a #1 overall seed got a P5 champion in their regional.

Unfortunately we never got to see quite how good NC State was but based on their performance in Omaha they weren't a typical 2 seed.

 

[615 Guy]

I've always felt like close college baseball games come down to who plays the best defense. Just see Oregon St and Arkansas, a missed pop up is the difference in who wins the natty. That's just the way college baseball is.

Exactly, I believe we had zero errors during the CWS and I think the only champion to ever do so.

 

[MSUDC11]

I tend to agree with you but they had just won the SEC Tournament the week before that. Nebraska won the Big 10, not sure the last time a #1 overall seed got a P5 champion in their regional.

Unfortunately we never got to see quite how good NC State was but based on their performance in Omaha they weren't a typical 2 seed.

That's a fair assessment. One thing I wondered about in the regular season was Arkansas's inability to sweep some clearly lesser teams. I realize they got the sweeps against State and Florida and those were really impressive showings. But Arkansas had home series against Auburn, Texas A&M, Georgia, and Alabama, and didn't sweep a single one of them. And most of those series went down to the wire as much as they could have. For reference, State went 9-0 against those same teams (didn't play Georgia) and six of the nine games were on the road.

Most people didn't pay it much attention at the time, but given what we know now, you almost have to wonder if playing all of those close games was destined to catch up with the Hogs. As good as that team was, they had a lot of series that were more interesting than they had any right to be. And in the end they played with fire one too many times.

 

[Junction John]

Everyone knows in-famous means more than famous.