The reigning college baseball national champions are headed to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Mississippi State, which captured the 2021 College World Series title last June, will face off against Texas Tech on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 8-9 at MGM Park in Biloxi. Tickets for both games are still on sale at ticketmaster.com
The Bulldogs and Red Raiders, a traditional power in the Big 12 Conference, will meet in a two-game set at the home of the Biloxi Shuckers for the second time in four seasons, after MSU swept TTU in 2019.
“It doesn’t get much better than this, especially if you are a Mississippi State fan living in South Mississippi,” Gulfport resident Ricky Cunningham said. Cunningham is a Moss Point native and served as a manager for the MSU football team for four years.
“I mean, it’s always great when the Dawgs play down here, but to bring two games down here as the national champions against tough opposition really says something about how much class the program and university has and shows how much they care for their alumni and fans in South Mississippi,” Cunningham continued.
Both games will start at 6 p.m.
Last year, Will Bednar and Landon Sims combined on a one-hitter in the third and final game of the championship series against fellow Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt as the Bulldogs celebrated their first-ever national championship with a 9-0 win and caused a victorious “dogpile” celebration on the mound at T.D. Ameritrade Stadium in Omaha.
It was the first one-hitter at the CWS since 2014. The Bulldogs finished their title-winning campaign with an overall 50-18 record and made their 12th appearance in Omaha at the College World Series.
Sims, an All-American, is one of the top returnees this season for MSU and has converted from one of the top relief pitchers in the nation last year into a starting role this season.
Mississippi State has a definitive south Mississippi feel to its squad, featuring All-SEC catcher Logan Tanner from Lucedale (George County High) as well as Hurley product Brad Cumbest (East Central High) who is once again starting in the outfield for MSU.
“It’s always nice to be able to see one of the best college baseball teams in the nation play without having to make a long trip,” Vancleave native Gene Robinson, an MSU graduate that now resides in Daphne, Ala., said. “And with State being the reigning national champs, it makes it even more special that they are playing on the coast. It’s very exciting.”
