Mississippi State baseball unveils national championship rings

Mississippi State baseball, which has long gone by the self-avowed nickname “Diamond Dogs,” has finally put meaning behind the name with its 2021 NCAA College World Series championship rings.

Head coach Chris Lemonis led Mississippi State to a No. 7 national seed heading into the 2021 NCAA Tournament, and the Bulldogs won both the Starkville Regional and Starkville Super Regional to punch a ticket to the College World Series. Making their 12th appearance in Omaha, there were only two programs in the nation — Florida State and Clemson — with more College World Series trips and no national titles.

That all changed in 2021. Mississippi State defeated the Texas Longhorns to advance to the NCAA finals, where it faced Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs won the best-of-three series with Tim Corbin’s Commodores, clinching the university’s first team national championship in any sport. Four months later, Mississippi State revealed its national championship rings via Twitter:

Diamond 💎 Dawgs pic.twitter.com/o2Ganzfhd4

— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) October 28, 2021

With the Diamond Dogs claiming their diamond rings, there remains only two Power Five universities without a team national championship in any sport: Kansas State and Virginia Tech.

Before the national championship, Mississippi State developed a perennially competitive baseball program under former coach-turned-athletic director John Cohen, and it has since continued its upward trend in three seasons with Lemonis at the helm. In 2019, Lemonis’ first season, Mississippi State made the trip out to Omaha, Nebraska, where it eventually lost to the same Corbin-led Commodores. Two years later, the Bulldogs made their fifth College World Series appearance since 2007 and the fifth 50-win season in program history, finishing with a record of 50-18.

Pitching powered Mississippi State to national championship

Vanderbilt and Mississippi State split the first two games of the 2021 national title series, sending it to game three in TD Ameritrade Park. The rubber match logged an attendance of 24,052 fans, a new record for the College World Series.

Kumar Rocker, one of Vanderbilt’s ace, took the mound for the Commodores, but he surrendered three runs on two hits, two walks and an error in the first two innings alone. After Mississippi State jumped out to a 3-0 lead, Rocker seemed to get in rhythm; however, the damage was already done.

Mississippi State starter Will Bednar put together one of the most dominant College World Series starts in recent history, throwing six shutout, no-hit innings and retiring the last 15 batters he faced. Vanderbilt didn’t seem to have an answer for Bednar, who allowed just three baserunners via walks.

It never got easier for the Commodores, either, as Lemonis relieved Bednar with All-American closer Landon Sims in the seventh. Sims retired the first four batters he faced, before a Carter Young single in the eighth finally broke up Mississippi State’s no-hitter.

The Bulldogs tacked on six more runs in the seventh inning via Logan Tanner and Kellum Clark, ultimately putting the game out of reach for Vanderbilt. Mississippi State won 9-0, thanks in part to an early-game rally and excellent pitching, claiming the university’s first national title.