Favorite Bulldogs Moments of 2016: No. 5 - Winning the Starkville Regional

This was a special baseball season. There is no way to get around it other than that. The Mississippi State baseball team stormed onto the season after one of their most disappointing seasons the prior year. It might not have ended the way we wanted it to, but after the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, a lot of us thought it would.

There was some concern as the Bulldogs entered the Starkville Regional. Southeast Missouri, the first round opponent, had a very talented left handed pitcher taking the mound in Joey Lucchesi. There were some who were concerned the Bulldogs might have a difficult time getting past the premiere arm.

But once the Bulldogs dispatched of Lucchesi and his talent, the rest of the Regional was relatively smooth sailing. Neither Cal State Fullerton nor Louisiana Tech put up p much of a fight, and the Bulldogs cruised to a 3-0 weekend and took the Starkville Regional without much if a sweat.

Possibly the most memorable part of the regional was John Cohen’s decision to play the State game in the early session on Friday. He wanted to avoid rain which was possible later that evening. After a lot of complaining from fans, Cohen looked like a genius when Game 2 was postponed shortly after it started that weekend.

The Bulldogs came away with one of the best performances of the weekend for any team that played in a Regional. The following weekend might not have gone the way we wanted it to, but the Regional certainly ranks up there among my favorite moments of 2016.