Will Bednar called his performance Sunday night “probably my best ever.”
It took every bit of that for Mississippi State to slip past Texas 2-1 in the final opening-round game of the College World Series.
Bednar (8-1) allowed only one hit and one walk and struck out 15 in six dominant innings, and Landon Sims closed with six strikeouts in three innings as the Bulldogs edged the Longhorns to set up a Tuesday date with Virginia, which dispatched of Tennessee earlier in the day. The 21 combined strikeouts between Bednar and Sims set a College World Series record, besting Ohio State’s 20 in a 15-inning win over Washington State in 1965.
“I grabbed Will after the game, handed him a game ball, and I just told him that’s one of the better performances ever here,” said Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis, calling the pitching performance the best he’s seen for the Bulldogs. “I mean, six innings, one hit, 15 punchies. Not many guys have come here and done that, because the talent level is so high.”
Bednar, who entered allowing nearly one hit per inning, set the tone early by striking out seven batters in a row at one point from the first to third innings. He had another stretch from the fourth to sixth innings when he struck out six in a row.
“Definitely the big thing was just working on continuing to improve fastball command and working on keeping the slider, trying to make sure I throw it for a strike and get it off the plate for a strikeout pitch,” Bednar said.
The Bulldogs (46-14) scored both their runs in the fourth inning. Scotty Dubrule hit a sacrifice fly to score Kamren James, who walked to open the inning. Brad Cumbest then hit an RBI triple that just stayed fair to score Luke Hancock. But that was all MSU could muster off Ty Madden, who was brilliant with 10 strikeouts and four hits in seven splendid innings.
“I mean, hitting’s tough,” Longhorns coach David Pierce said. “It’s a 2-1 baseball game. They did a nice job with two strikes hitting the ball down the line that was fair by inches and scored on a tough play in the corner. If we strike out however many times, and we strike them out however many times, at the end of the day it’s a 2-1 game. We didn’t get a clutch hit and they got one more than us.”
Mike Antico led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer off Sims. With two outs, Ivan Melendez and Cam Williams singled to put runners on the corners before Sims got Douglas Hodo III on a grounder to second to end the game. The Longhorns (47-16) face elimination on Tuesday when they meet Tennessee.
“This is our third trip to Omaha, winning all three games on opening night and then coming up short two years in a row,” said Bulldogs centerfielder Rowdey Jordan, who went 2 for 4. “So I think you celebrate a little bit, but then you put it behind you. And that’s what we’re going to tell younger guys. Say: look, guys, we’ve been here; we didn’t get it done, so let’s just keep playing good.”