STARKVILLE — Typically, when the Mississippi State baseball team wins a title at its home ballpark, fans linger long after the game to soak in the victory and to celebrate.
Sunday was an exception.
After center fielder Jake Mangum tracked down a fly ball to the warning track to secure the final out in MSU’s 5-2 victory against Miami, the fans stuck around for five or 10 minutes, serenading the Bulldogs as they made victory laps around the park. High-fiving fans thrust their arms over the outfield walls. The public address guy announced the regional’s all-tournament team.
Then everybody went home, content in the knowledge they got what they came for.
There are two explanations for this brief, if not subdued, celebration.
First, Monday was a working day and midnight is pretty late to be up when you have to go to work in the morning.
Second, Bulldog fans have become accustomed to winning.
It has become almost like tying your shoelaces. When you’re 4 years old, everybody makes a big deal of it. Not so much, when you’re 10.
MSU has made 32 NCAA Regionals since they were adopted 45 years ago, including four in a row. It has won 15 of those and its record in those games is 84-43. The latest regional saw MSU beat Southern, Central Michigan and Miami to advance to its ninth Super Regional since that format began 20 years ago.
For seniors like Mangum, all four seasons have ended with the Bulldogs as one of the last 16 teams still playing, if not further.
This weekend, MSU will try to reach the College World Series for the 11th time in its history, and second time in a row, something MSU has never done. It will again be at home at Dudy Noble. Stanford and Fresno State will meet tonight to determine which team will have the privilege of trying to beat MSU in a best-of-three series.
That’s no small assignment. MSU is one of a handful of places where the home-field advantage really comes in to play. This past weekend, which included a noon game Friday — a crowd-killer most places — and an 8 p.m. Sunday game — no treat for the early-to-bed crowd — MSU drew a little more than 28,000 fans. For many college baseball programs, that’s a season’s worth of attendance.
That’s more than just a point of pride for the Bulldogs. It matters, even on the field, said Mangum.
“Mississippi State baseball means a lot to the people,” Mangum said. “They came and they were loud. You cannot even describe how much it helps. In college baseball, you do not have stadiums like this. When you get opposing teams to come in here, it almost shell shocks you. I’m still not used to it myself.”
Opposing players and coaches noted the atmosphere at Dudy Noble Field without prompting. It is one of the sport’s unique venues.
That has been true for more than 40 years, ever since Ron Polk arrived at MSU in the 1970s and turned the Bulldog baseball program into something unknown in the college game — a bona fide spectator sport, something people in large numbers would pay good money to see.
MSU always has been special in that regard, but it is more special now, thanks to a $68-million stadium renovation/expansion christened this year.
The Bulldogs play in a palatial park that caters to the comfort and enjoyment of its dedicated fan base.
Among the amenities, located at the entrance to the park, are statues of Bulldog greats Rafael Palmeiro and Will Clark.
As midnight approached Sunday, only a few stragglers remained. Among them were a couple of boys in their little league uniforms, who stood by the statues, striking a pose to mimic those of the Bulldogs’ legendary players as their dad snapped photos.
At a time when so much around us seems subject to sudden, irredeemable change, baseball remains a fixed touchstone. For generations, kids have been wearing their little league uniforms to ballparks to watch their heroes. It’s one of those Norman Rockwell moments, nostalgic and reassuring.
For all the changes, some things endure.
At Mississippi State, baseball is one of them.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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