2021 College World Series Game 13: No. 7 Mississippi State 4, No. 2 Texas 3 (photo courtesy of NCAA)
Tanner Leggett delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth as MSU edged UT to advance to the CWS Championship Series against Vanderbilt.
“Great college baseball game against a great team,” said MSU head coach Chris Lemonis. “We’ve gone four times against Texas this year and each game has been a brawl. You’ve got to tip your cap to those guys. I know they are disappointed, but we have played some unbelievable games with those guys.”
Kellum Clark was hit by a pitch with one away in the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner Brayland Skinner, who stole second. Leggett, who entered the game in the seventh as a defensive replacement at short, lined a 1-1 pitch into left center to plate Skinner with the game-winner.
“I had a couple guys come up to me in the dugout and tell me that I was going to get a chance to win it,” Leggett said. “I had a chance for a big hit a couple nights ago but grounded out to third. Kept my head up and said my little prayer and when Bray got the bag stolen, I knew if I got a pitch to hit, I would be short to it, and I did.”
UT started the scoring in the top of the second. Ivan Melendez drew a leadoff walk and scored on a homer by Cam Williams to give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead.
MSU answered an inning later. Clark had a leadoff double and came home on a two-out single by Tanner Allen to make it 2-1.
The Longhorns added to their lead in the fifth. Douglas Hodo III had a leadoff double and came home on a two-out two-bagger by Mike Antico to up the advantage to 3-1.
The Bulldogs added one in the bottom of the frame as Brad Cumbest had a leadoff double and scored on a double play to make it 3-2.
MSU tied it in the sixth. Kamren James had a leadoff walk and scored on a double by Logan Tanner. The Dawgs had the bases loaded with none out, but Cole Quintanilla got a force out at the plate and two strikeouts to keep it a 3-3 contest.
Lucas Sims (5-0) earned the win, working 2.2 hitless innings with four strikeouts.
“I have all the confidence in the world that they are going to score runs when it’s needed,” Sims said of the MSU offense. ”We’ve done that all year, and we weren’t going to stop now. So I felt pretty confident right there in the seventh, eighth, ninth inning, if we had to go into extras, I would have felt confident, too.”
Sims relieved Will Bednar, who pitched 6.1 innings with four hits, three runs, two walks and seven strikeouts.
“Really happy for our kids,” Lemonis said. “Thought we got a great start from Will. Landon Sims did Landon Sims things and then my JUCO bandits put it together in the ninth, and Skinner steals that huge base. And so happy for Tanner. He’s been a role guy for us all year, in and out of the lineup. And never easy when you’re that guy because you want to play, and then he gets the hit in the biggest moment, which means he’s still invested, he’s still working, and I couldn’t be happier for the kids.”