Mississippi State Clinches Super Regional Spot for Third Consecutive Season

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State is super again.

With its backs against the wall all weekend, the Bulldogs made it four straight wins to capture the Tallahassee Regional. MSU beat Oklahoma 8-1 to win the championship Monday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.

MSU advances to its eighth super regional, including third straight. The Bulldogs became the first team to lose a regional tournament opener before winning four straight games to clinch in back-to-back seasons.

MSU (35-26) will face Vanderbilt (34-25) in the a best-of-three super regional series with the winner advancing to Omaha. Game dates, times, location and television assignments will be announced soon.

“This team just showed a lot of heart the entire season,” MSU assistant coach Jake Gautreau said. “It doesn’t matter the obstacles. They show up each day ready to work. It has been an incredible season. They just worked hard and felt like this could be a special season.

“In this game, JP France was outstanding. Offensively, we did enough. The four runs there in the ninth inning were huge.”

France (5-5) threw seven innings his second start of the season. France allowed two hits and one run (earned), with five strikeouts and two walks. Riley Self threw two innings of two-hit shutout relief for his first save.

Offensively, the Bulldogs collected 11 hits, giving them 10 or more hits in four of five regional games. Jake Mangum hit the team’s 10th home run in the tournament.

Oklahoma (38-25) scored a run without a base hit in the second inning.

After that, MSU did the remainder of the scoring. The Bulldogs took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth inning on a two-run double by Justin Foscue.

The lead was then stretched with a Rowdey Jordan RBI-single in the fifth inning and Jordan scoring on a passed ball in the eighth inning.

In the ninth inning, Luke Alexander had a one-out single and that was followed by a double from Dustin Skelton.

Jordan Westburg followed with a two-run single before Mangum hit a two-run home run.

In the super regional, the Bulldogs will be trying for their first return trip to the College World Series since 2013.

NEXT UP FOR MSU

With Vanderbilt having won the Clemson Regional, State will now take on the Commodores in a best-of-three Super Regional series. The location of the series will be determined by the NCAA according to a specific set of criteria, while the game times and dates will be announced on in the coming days.

REGIONAL SCHEDULE (All times CT)
Friday, June 1, 2018
G1 – No. 3 Oklahoma 20, No. 2 Mississippi State 10
G2 – No. 4 Samford 7, No. 1 Florida State 6

Saturday, June 2, 2018
G3 – No. 2 Mississippi State 3, No. 1 Florida State 2
G4 – No. 3 Oklahoma 4, No. 4 Samford 0

Sunday, June 3, 2018
G5 – No. 2 Mississippi State 9, No. 4 Samford 8
G6 – No. 2 Mississippi State 13, No. 3 Oklahoma 5

Monday, June 4, 2018
G7 – No. 2 Mississippi State 8, No. 3 Oklahoma 1