National Champs Mississippi State returns to MGM Park Tuesday
The last time Mississippi State played a baseball game at MGM Park in 2020, it turned out to be the team’s last game of the entire season.
Since then, the Bulldogs have battled through a global pandemic and even won a national championship as they get ready to make their long-awaited return to Biloxi in less than 24 hours.
State and Texas Tech doing battle at 6 p.m. tomorrow and 5 p.m. Wednesday, almost two years to the day since sweeping the Red Raiders the last time around.
However, MSU coming into the top 25 mid-week series with an overall record of just 6-6, having lost three out of their last four games, starting with last week’s defeat at the hands of Southern Miss before dropping two out of three at Tulane over the weekend.
On the bright side, a happy homecoming for both George County alum Logan Tanner and East Central alum Brad Cumbest who are first and third on the team in batting average respectively.
Tanner also leads the clubhouse with 16 RBI while Cumbest paces MSU with three home runs and five doubles. Tanner said, “It’s been awesome. I’m just kind of living out my dream that I’ve always had since I was a little kid of going out to Mississippi State and then we get to come back home down south and play here in front of all my friends and family and all the fans down here. It’s been really cool.”
Head Coach Chris Lemonis said, “Well, when the bus pulled in and pulled behind the stadium our guys – it was kind of eerie because this was our COVID moment. When we walked out of the clubhouse and the NBA was canceled and you’re getting on a bus and you don’t know what’s going to happen, and two days later our team is gone. So, kind of nice to be back at a packed ball park. Excited to be here in Biloxi. It’s purposeful that we want to come down here and play in front of our fans on the Coast and it’s going to be a really fun couple of nights.”
Coach Lemonis says Cumbest is more proud of his hometown of Hurley than any player on the team.
