Mississippi State's second consecutive trip to the College World Series did not end with the Bulldogs hoisting the National Championship trophy, but it did cement another Bulldog team among one of the greatest in program history.
State picked up its 52nd victory of the season in the opening game of its 11th Omaha appearance, defeating the Auburn Tigers after trailing three runs heading into the ninth inning. Unfortunately, that's where the luck ended, as the Bulldogs were defeated by an all-around star-studded Vanderbilt squad and were then the victim of a come-from-behind victory by Louisville, despite a great outing from Freshman phenom JT Ginn.
The back-to-back losses ended the careers of Bulldog legends Jake Mangum, Elijah Macnamee, Ethan Small, and Cole Gordon, among others, but their careers will always be remembered for an immense amount of success, not to mention their absolutely perfect final games at Dudy Noble Field last weekend against Stanford.
State picked up its 52nd victory of the season in the opening game of its 11th Omaha appearance, defeating the Auburn Tigers after trailing three runs heading into the ninth inning. Unfortunately, that's where the luck ended, as the Bulldogs were defeated by an all-around star-studded Vanderbilt squad and were then the victim of a come-from-behind victory by Louisville, despite a great outing from Freshman phenom JT Ginn.
The back-to-back losses ended the careers of Bulldog legends Jake Mangum, Elijah Macnamee, Ethan Small, and Cole Gordon, among others, but their careers will always be remembered for an immense amount of success, not to mention their absolutely perfect final games at Dudy Noble Field last weekend against Stanford.
Game 1: Auburn: Nickelblacks
When the CWS schedule was first announced, one of the first things I thought about was the dilemma of what uniform to wear. The Bulldogs’ opening round game against Auburn was scheduled for Sunday night, and Ethan Small was pretty much immediately named as the starting pitcher. The dilemma here is simple: Mississippi State had worn black jerseys in every single Sunday game this season, amassing a 9-0 record over those games, but Ethan Small had worn the maroon 85 jerseys in every single one of his starts, churning out one of the best seasons on the mound in college baseball history.
When I first tweeted about that dilemma on that Sunday night, it was mostly facetious, as I figured we would go with the Sunday blacks without much deliberation. However, that tweet got a good bit of attention, and the dilemma was picked up by MSU beat reporter Brett Hudson, who talked about it on his Dogpile podcast and actually asked Ethan Small about it. At the time, Small said he hadn’t made up his mind yet, mentioning that he preferred the maroon 85s but would possibly go with black if that’s what the rest of the team wanted.
When Sunday rolled around, the answer to the dilemma was finally revealed: the Bulldogs would be going with the “Nickelblacks” for the 10th time on the 10th Sunday game of the season. It was the first time all season that Ethan Small had pitched in anything other than the maroon 85 jerseys; he had actually pitched in all-black once before, in the final game of the 2018 season, a 5-2 loss to Oregon State in Omaha last season.
For most of the game, the decision to force Ethan Small to wear black looked like a bad one. Small went 5 innings and gave up three runs, which for most pitchers is a decent outing, but for Small was one of the worst of the season. The Bulldogs actually entered the bottom of the 9thdown 4-1, and the Nickelbacks’ perfect record looked to be about to meet its end. However, doubles by Jake Mangum and Elijah MacNamee, along with less than stellar infield defense for Auburn, set up for a walk-off Marshall Gilbert single to gave Mississippi State a 5-4 victory.
Tyler Horka wrote a great article postgame with quotes from the players on the “magic” of wearing all-black uniforms in Sunday games. Some of the highlights, from Peyton Plumlee: “On Sundays, we wear black. Smalls tried to fight it, he lost, we wore blacks and we won. That's how that went”, Jake Mangum: “I made my point to Ethan that we need to wear blacks. And we did. And we just walked off in the bottom of the ninth”, and Ethan Small: “I will never wear these uniforms ever again in my life. I’m sticking to my maroons from now on.” You can watch these quotes in the embedded tweet from Mackenzie Salmon.
When the CWS schedule was first announced, one of the first things I thought about was the dilemma of what uniform to wear. The Bulldogs’ opening round game against Auburn was scheduled for Sunday night, and Ethan Small was pretty much immediately named as the starting pitcher. The dilemma here is simple: Mississippi State had worn black jerseys in every single Sunday game this season, amassing a 9-0 record over those games, but Ethan Small had worn the maroon 85 jerseys in every single one of his starts, churning out one of the best seasons on the mound in college baseball history.
When I first tweeted about that dilemma on that Sunday night, it was mostly facetious, as I figured we would go with the Sunday blacks without much deliberation. However, that tweet got a good bit of attention, and the dilemma was picked up by MSU beat reporter Brett Hudson, who talked about it on his Dogpile podcast and actually asked Ethan Small about it. At the time, Small said he hadn’t made up his mind yet, mentioning that he preferred the maroon 85s but would possibly go with black if that’s what the rest of the team wanted.
When Sunday rolled around, the answer to the dilemma was finally revealed: the Bulldogs would be going with the “Nickelblacks” for the 10th time on the 10th Sunday game of the season. It was the first time all season that Ethan Small had pitched in anything other than the maroon 85 jerseys; he had actually pitched in all-black once before, in the final game of the 2018 season, a 5-2 loss to Oregon State in Omaha last season.
For most of the game, the decision to force Ethan Small to wear black looked like a bad one. Small went 5 innings and gave up three runs, which for most pitchers is a decent outing, but for Small was one of the worst of the season. The Bulldogs actually entered the bottom of the 9thdown 4-1, and the Nickelbacks’ perfect record looked to be about to meet its end. However, doubles by Jake Mangum and Elijah MacNamee, along with less than stellar infield defense for Auburn, set up for a walk-off Marshall Gilbert single to gave Mississippi State a 5-4 victory.
Tyler Horka wrote a great article postgame with quotes from the players on the “magic” of wearing all-black uniforms in Sunday games. Some of the highlights, from Peyton Plumlee: “On Sundays, we wear black. Smalls tried to fight it, he lost, we wore blacks and we won. That's how that went”, Jake Mangum: “I made my point to Ethan that we need to wear blacks. And we did. And we just walked off in the bottom of the ninth”, and Ethan Small: “I will never wear these uniforms ever again in my life. I’m sticking to my maroons from now on.” You can watch these quotes in the embedded tweet from Mackenzie Salmon.
Are the #Nickelblacks uniforms magical? Mississippi State players seem to think so...
— Mackenzie Salmon (@mackenziesalmon) June 17, 2019
"I will never wear these uniforms again in my life," said @E7hanS. pic.twitter.com/6PPjZD7oBM
Seeing how much Ethan Small didn’t want to go with the all-blacks makes me realize how close we actually were to seeing maroon 85s on the field Sunday night. And again, I always assumed that it would be black because it was on Sunday. As someone who thinks the maroon 85s are some of the best uniforms in college baseball and that black pants should pretty much never be worn in baseball, I would’ve loved to have seen that. But as is, we’re playing in the winner’s bracket of the College World Series, so I am absolutely not complaining.
Speaking of complaining, ESPN College Football analyst Rece Davis was not a fan of State’s all-black look (or Auburn’s camo hats). State fans pretty much lit him up on Twitter, which is fair, considering he almost certainly didn’t do any research into State’s “Nickelblack” tradition over the past few seasons. But in principle, I pretty much agree with his tweet; if you had told me two years ago that Mississippi State would be wearing all-black uniforms in the opening game of the College World Series I would’ve thought you were crazy. And, honestly, I would still muchrather see school colors worn throughout the postseason, especially when our more classic uniforms are arguably the best in college baseball.
However, superstition is real in baseball, and when the players are into it and the stats bear it out, I’m not going to be one to complain. The stats on all-black uniforms for MSU are now:
Don’t forget that State actually updated the black jerseys this season; this year’s versions are much improved from last year’s, with maroon accents, smaller sleeve stripes that negate the “baggy” look from last season, player names on the back, M over S logo on the sleeve, and black batting helmets. Honestly, these improvements were a major contributor to me warming up to the so-called “Nickelblacks”; I think I would probably be more critical if we had kept last year’s exact look.
One last note about Sunday night’s win over Auburn: it was only the second time all season that State had worn the same uniform in back-to-back non-DH games, and both times, the second game of the sequence was a walk-off victory. The first time it happened was when the white 85s were worn in the regular season finale against South Carolina and then again in the SEC Tournament opener, which was a 17-inning walk-off win over LSU. This time, the all-black uniforms were worn in the Super Regional game 2 win over Stanford and then again in the College World Series opening walk-off win over Auburn.
Speaking of complaining, ESPN College Football analyst Rece Davis was not a fan of State’s all-black look (or Auburn’s camo hats). State fans pretty much lit him up on Twitter, which is fair, considering he almost certainly didn’t do any research into State’s “Nickelblack” tradition over the past few seasons. But in principle, I pretty much agree with his tweet; if you had told me two years ago that Mississippi State would be wearing all-black uniforms in the opening game of the College World Series I would’ve thought you were crazy. And, honestly, I would still muchrather see school colors worn throughout the postseason, especially when our more classic uniforms are arguably the best in college baseball.
However, superstition is real in baseball, and when the players are into it and the stats bear it out, I’m not going to be one to complain. The stats on all-black uniforms for MSU are now:
- 10-0 in 2019 (Exclusively worn on Sunday games)
- 3-0 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament
- 19-3 all-time (2015, 2018, 2019)
- 4-1 all-time in the postseason
- 1-1 all-time in the College World Series
Don’t forget that State actually updated the black jerseys this season; this year’s versions are much improved from last year’s, with maroon accents, smaller sleeve stripes that negate the “baggy” look from last season, player names on the back, M over S logo on the sleeve, and black batting helmets. Honestly, these improvements were a major contributor to me warming up to the so-called “Nickelblacks”; I think I would probably be more critical if we had kept last year’s exact look.
One last note about Sunday night’s win over Auburn: it was only the second time all season that State had worn the same uniform in back-to-back non-DH games, and both times, the second game of the sequence was a walk-off victory. The first time it happened was when the white 85s were worn in the regular season finale against South Carolina and then again in the SEC Tournament opener, which was a 17-inning walk-off win over LSU. This time, the all-black uniforms were worn in the Super Regional game 2 win over Stanford and then again in the College World Series opening walk-off win over Auburn.
Game 2: Vanderbilt: White 85s
Playing in the winner's bracket game in Omaha for the third time in seven seasons, Mississippi State took on yet another familiar SEC opponent, the SEC Regular Season and Tournament champion Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Bulldogs won the coin flip and as a result were designated as the "home" team for the matchup. As such, the Bulldogs wore white uniforms, electing to go with the white 85s for the first time in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. It was the first time that the true white 85 design had been worn in a postseason game since the original versions (note that the "inverted" white 85s were worn in 5 games throughout the 2016 and 2017 postseasons), and the first time that the white 85 design had been worn in Omaha since, appropriately, 1985.
I've said multiple times that the white 85s are my favorite Mississippi State baseball uniform design; the all-white look is just so clean, and the "85" wordmark is classic Mississippi State. The current pullover design with the thinner sleeve stripes and M over S on the sleeves pretty much brings it to perfection. Add the College World Series patch on there, and I could make an argument that this is single best baseball uniform that Mississippi State has ever worn. You can see Kelly Donoho's full gallery of the game for Mississippi State Athletics here, it was really an incredible look.
As it usually seems to go with Mississippi State, the better the uniform looks, the less positive the result, as Vanderbilt utilized a 5-run 5th inning to take a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. The loss dipped the Bulldogs' 2019 record in the white 85s to 9-3, including 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament and 1-2 in the postseason (SEC + NCAA Tournaments). At 12 appearances on the year, the white 85s finished tied for the most appearances of a single uniform combination in 2019, along with the maroon 85 over white combination (10-2).
Playing in the winner's bracket game in Omaha for the third time in seven seasons, Mississippi State took on yet another familiar SEC opponent, the SEC Regular Season and Tournament champion Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Bulldogs won the coin flip and as a result were designated as the "home" team for the matchup. As such, the Bulldogs wore white uniforms, electing to go with the white 85s for the first time in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. It was the first time that the true white 85 design had been worn in a postseason game since the original versions (note that the "inverted" white 85s were worn in 5 games throughout the 2016 and 2017 postseasons), and the first time that the white 85 design had been worn in Omaha since, appropriately, 1985.
I've said multiple times that the white 85s are my favorite Mississippi State baseball uniform design; the all-white look is just so clean, and the "85" wordmark is classic Mississippi State. The current pullover design with the thinner sleeve stripes and M over S on the sleeves pretty much brings it to perfection. Add the College World Series patch on there, and I could make an argument that this is single best baseball uniform that Mississippi State has ever worn. You can see Kelly Donoho's full gallery of the game for Mississippi State Athletics here, it was really an incredible look.
As it usually seems to go with Mississippi State, the better the uniform looks, the less positive the result, as Vanderbilt utilized a 5-run 5th inning to take a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs. The loss dipped the Bulldogs' 2019 record in the white 85s to 9-3, including 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament and 1-2 in the postseason (SEC + NCAA Tournaments). At 12 appearances on the year, the white 85s finished tied for the most appearances of a single uniform combination in 2019, along with the maroon 85 over white combination (10-2).
Game 3: Louisville: Maroon 85s with Gray Pants
In an elimination game against Louisville, Mississippi State was the designated "away" team for the first time in Omaha. As such, the Bulldogs wore gray pants for the first time in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, and paired them with the maroon 85 jerseys, which had not yet been worn in Omaha.
This the first time that the Bulldogs had worn solid gray pants in an NCAA Tournament game since 2014, and the first time in Omaha since 2013. It was the first time that the maroon 85 design had been worn with gray pants in Omaha since game 2 against UCLA in 2013, and the first time with the pullover design since the 5-4 win over Arkansas in 1985.
Thursday was the first day all season in which the maroon 85 jerseys had been worn on a day in which Ethan Small did not pitch. There was only regular season game all season in which the maroon 85s were worn but Small did not pitch: game 2 of the Friday doubleheader with Maine, in which JT Ginn started, but Small had pitched in game 1 earlier that day. With Ginn starting (and pitching a very good scoreless six innings), the maroon 85s were still always worn in a game where Small or Ginn pitched.
Just like the white 85s, the maroon 85 over gray combo looked incredible with the College World Series patch. Some have pointed out the contrast caused by the lack of gray on the maroon jerseys, but I don't mind, and actually think the contrast looks pretty sharp. There's a similar contrast with the numbers on the football uniforms (though they do feature gray in the stripes) and the gray pants, but that combination is still widely-regarded as the Bulldogs' best. It bothered me much more in previous seasons when we would just always wear white pants with the maroon jerseys, even on the road. Honestly, this year's incarnation of the maroon 85 jerseys are very-well designed and look impeccable with both white and gray pants; maybe next year we can see them paired with pinstripe pants. Here's a link to the official photo gallery from the Louisville game; I still can't get over how beautiful that patch is on those uniforms. Hopefully this continues to be a yearly occurrence!
Sadly, despite leading most of the game, Mississippi State fell to Louisville in the bottom of the 9th, bringing the 2019 campaign to a close. The maroon 85s finished with a 14-5 overall record in 2019, including 4-3 when paired with gray pants. Overall, the Bulldogs wore 9 different uniform combinations in 2019 (12 counting those worn with the CWS patch separately), 8 of them finishing with a winning record, the lone holdout being the gray pinstripes at .500 (4-4).
In an elimination game against Louisville, Mississippi State was the designated "away" team for the first time in Omaha. As such, the Bulldogs wore gray pants for the first time in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, and paired them with the maroon 85 jerseys, which had not yet been worn in Omaha.
This the first time that the Bulldogs had worn solid gray pants in an NCAA Tournament game since 2014, and the first time in Omaha since 2013. It was the first time that the maroon 85 design had been worn with gray pants in Omaha since game 2 against UCLA in 2013, and the first time with the pullover design since the 5-4 win over Arkansas in 1985.
Thursday was the first day all season in which the maroon 85 jerseys had been worn on a day in which Ethan Small did not pitch. There was only regular season game all season in which the maroon 85s were worn but Small did not pitch: game 2 of the Friday doubleheader with Maine, in which JT Ginn started, but Small had pitched in game 1 earlier that day. With Ginn starting (and pitching a very good scoreless six innings), the maroon 85s were still always worn in a game where Small or Ginn pitched.
Just like the white 85s, the maroon 85 over gray combo looked incredible with the College World Series patch. Some have pointed out the contrast caused by the lack of gray on the maroon jerseys, but I don't mind, and actually think the contrast looks pretty sharp. There's a similar contrast with the numbers on the football uniforms (though they do feature gray in the stripes) and the gray pants, but that combination is still widely-regarded as the Bulldogs' best. It bothered me much more in previous seasons when we would just always wear white pants with the maroon jerseys, even on the road. Honestly, this year's incarnation of the maroon 85 jerseys are very-well designed and look impeccable with both white and gray pants; maybe next year we can see them paired with pinstripe pants. Here's a link to the official photo gallery from the Louisville game; I still can't get over how beautiful that patch is on those uniforms. Hopefully this continues to be a yearly occurrence!
Sadly, despite leading most of the game, Mississippi State fell to Louisville in the bottom of the 9th, bringing the 2019 campaign to a close. The maroon 85s finished with a 14-5 overall record in 2019, including 4-3 when paired with gray pants. Overall, the Bulldogs wore 9 different uniform combinations in 2019 (12 counting those worn with the CWS patch separately), 8 of them finishing with a winning record, the lone holdout being the gray pinstripes at .500 (4-4).
With that, Mississippi State's historic 2019 baseball season has concluded. I'll put together a complete season recap article within the next week or so, but for now, you can find the completed 2019 Baseball Season Game-by-Game Uniform Graphic below.
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