For the second year in a row, Mississippi State baseball is headed to Omaha, Nebraska in the month of June! After sweeping the Starkville Regional last weekend, the Bulldogs followed through with a 2-game sweep of Stanford in the Starkville Super Regional. The Bulldogs' 5-0 record thus far in the NCAA Tournament marks the first time that the Bulldogs have hosted *and* swept all the way to Omaha; they last went 5-0 en route to Omaha in 2007, but were on the road in the regional round that season. It was a stark contrast to last season, when the Bulldogs lost the opening game in the Tallahassee Regional as well as the second game of the Nashville Super Regional, but still managed to claw their way to Omaha.
The 2019 Starkville Super Regional began on Saturday Night, as Ethan Small took the mound for the Bulldogs. As the home team and with Small on the mound, Mississippi State wore the maroon 85 jerseys with white pants in Saturday's opening game. After allowing a run in the first inning, Small settled down and pitched 6 full innings, leaving the game with a 6-1 lead. The Bulldogs' bullpen closed out the game, winning the contest 6-2 and giving Small the victory. The win improved the Bulldogs' 2019 record in the maroon 85 jerseys to 14-4, and 10-2 when paired with white pants.
On Sunday, the Bulldogs broke out the "Nickelblacks" as they attempted to clinch an Omaha bid and dogpile in black for the second consecutive season. They achieved that goal in emphatic fashion: Peyton Plumlee dealt out 6.2 scoreless, hitless innings after giving up a leadoff homer, Dustin Skelton played incredible defense behind the plate and delivered a based-clearing triple in the third inning, Jake Mangum had two hits, including a single in his final at-bat in Dudy Noble (which led off the 9th, following the final playing of "Your Love"), Elijah MacNamee finished his career at Dudy Noble in incredible storybook fashion, smashing a three run homer in the top of the 9th, and fifth year senior closer Cole Gordon worked an incredibly dominant bottom of the 9th to seal the deal.
The all-black uniform is quickly cementing itself in Mississippi State baseball tradition. While I still hate the idea of black pants in baseball, I'm far past the point of complaining whenever we wear it, especially since a few small adjustments were made to them this year that make them much better aesthetically, including: smaller sleeve stripes, which prevent the "baggy" look, inclusion of maroon outlines, player names on back, wider numbers, M over S logo on the sleeve, and black batting helmets.
This years' all-black look has been worn in every single Sunday game, and has not been worn in any non-Sunday games. The Bulldogs are 9-0 in Sunday games this season, and as a result are 9-0 in all-black. Combined with last season, when they wore the all-black uniforms 11 times to an 8-3 record, and with 2015, when they wore all-black once in a win over Western Kentucky, Mississippi State baseball now has an 18-3 all-time record in all-black uniforms. All-black is 4-1 in NCAA Tournament games, including 2-0 in regional games, 2-0 in super regional games (both with Omaha berths on the line), and 0-1 in the College World Series.
The 2019 Starkville Super Regional began on Saturday Night, as Ethan Small took the mound for the Bulldogs. As the home team and with Small on the mound, Mississippi State wore the maroon 85 jerseys with white pants in Saturday's opening game. After allowing a run in the first inning, Small settled down and pitched 6 full innings, leaving the game with a 6-1 lead. The Bulldogs' bullpen closed out the game, winning the contest 6-2 and giving Small the victory. The win improved the Bulldogs' 2019 record in the maroon 85 jerseys to 14-4, and 10-2 when paired with white pants.
On Sunday, the Bulldogs broke out the "Nickelblacks" as they attempted to clinch an Omaha bid and dogpile in black for the second consecutive season. They achieved that goal in emphatic fashion: Peyton Plumlee dealt out 6.2 scoreless, hitless innings after giving up a leadoff homer, Dustin Skelton played incredible defense behind the plate and delivered a based-clearing triple in the third inning, Jake Mangum had two hits, including a single in his final at-bat in Dudy Noble (which led off the 9th, following the final playing of "Your Love"), Elijah MacNamee finished his career at Dudy Noble in incredible storybook fashion, smashing a three run homer in the top of the 9th, and fifth year senior closer Cole Gordon worked an incredibly dominant bottom of the 9th to seal the deal.
The all-black uniform is quickly cementing itself in Mississippi State baseball tradition. While I still hate the idea of black pants in baseball, I'm far past the point of complaining whenever we wear it, especially since a few small adjustments were made to them this year that make them much better aesthetically, including: smaller sleeve stripes, which prevent the "baggy" look, inclusion of maroon outlines, player names on back, wider numbers, M over S logo on the sleeve, and black batting helmets.
This years' all-black look has been worn in every single Sunday game, and has not been worn in any non-Sunday games. The Bulldogs are 9-0 in Sunday games this season, and as a result are 9-0 in all-black. Combined with last season, when they wore the all-black uniforms 11 times to an 8-3 record, and with 2015, when they wore all-black once in a win over Western Kentucky, Mississippi State baseball now has an 18-3 all-time record in all-black uniforms. All-black is 4-1 in NCAA Tournament games, including 2-0 in regional games, 2-0 in super regional games (both with Omaha berths on the line), and 0-1 in the College World Series.
| .This year's Super Regional appearance was Mississippi State's 9th since the format began in 1999. Prior to that season, Mississippi State had advanced to Omaha 7 times, 6 of which were through the 6-team regional, 48-team tournament format. Of the Bulldogs' 9 Super Regionals, 3 of them have been at home. The first one, in 2007, was after the Bulldogs had won the Tallahassee Regional as a 2 seed; State was chosen to host fellow 2 seed Clemson that year. The two most recent home Super Regionals, in 2016 and 2019, were after State had hosted a home regional as a top-8 national seed. Overall, Mississippi State is now 4-5 in Super Regionals, increasing their College World Series appearance total to 11. They are 2-1 in home Supers, and 1-1 as a top-8 national seed. 7 of the 9 Supers have been sweeps; only 2011 and 2018 went to three games, and in both of those cases, the team that won game 1 also won game 3. So 100% of the time, the team that has won game 1 of a Super Regional involving Mississippi State has won the series. |  |
Mississippi State's Uniform Color Records in Super Regionals:
For more on Mississippi State's postseason baseball uniform history, check out this page!
- Black: 2-0 (1.000); Dogpiles in 2018 and 2019
- Maroon: 6-5 (.545); Dogpiles in 2007 and 2013
- White: 1-3 (.250)
- Solid White: 1-1 (.500)
- White Pinstripes: 0-2 (.000)
- Gray: 0-3 (.000)
- Gray Pinstripes: 0-3 (.000)
- Solid Gray: 0-0 (N/A)
- Total: 9-11 (.450), 4-5 (.444) in series
For more on Mississippi State's postseason baseball uniform history, check out this page!
One of my favorite things to do each year is create roundel logos for the eight College World Series teams. This is the seventh year I’ve done them; each year has a different font and a few design tweaks- you can see all of the logos from the past seven seasons at the link.
This year, the design includes a tweaked stitching location, block font, and a different outline pattern. As with the past seasons, the idea is to use the team’s primary hat logo for the roundel. (i.e. Last year, I used the “T” hat logo for Texas rather than the longhorn logo.) A few notes on this year’s logos:
Being able to include Mississippi State in these logos for the past two seasons has been incredible; I started doing them because of the Bulldogs' 2013 Omaha trip. Check out this year's full gallery at the link below:
2019 College World Series Roundel Logos
This year, the design includes a tweaked stitching location, block font, and a different outline pattern. As with the past seasons, the idea is to use the team’s primary hat logo for the roundel. (i.e. Last year, I used the “T” hat logo for Texas rather than the longhorn logo.) A few notes on this year’s logos:
- Auburn: Used white text instead of orange because it provided better contrast and overall just looked better, even though it broke the trend of using dark lettering such as seen on Louisville and Texas Tech.
- Louisville: Both the cardinal head logo and english “L” are used on their hats; I went with the “L” to keep the letter theme going.
- Mississippi State: Last year, I used the thinner M over S logo that is actually worn on the hat. This year, I went with the thicker version that is worn on the jerseys and used in all marketing; it worked much better with the thicker block font I’m using this year and is also more consistent with Mississippi State’s recent branding efforts.
- Vanderbilt: In 2014 and 2015, I used the block “V” for Vanderbilt’s roundel logo. This year, I used the star-V, as it has been consistently worn on alternate hats this season and fits better in the roundel.
Being able to include Mississippi State in these logos for the past two seasons has been incredible; I started doing them because of the Bulldogs' 2013 Omaha trip. Check out this year's full gallery at the link below:
2019 College World Series Roundel Logos
The next time Mississippi State baseball takes the field, it will be at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. The Bulldogs will begin play in Omaha on Sunday Night (June 16) against the Auburn Tigers.
The timing of that first game brings up an interesting dilemma, as Ethan Small has already been named the Bulldogs' starter for that game. Small has worn maroon in every single one of his starts this year, but we’ve also worn black in every Sunday game this season. You would think that State would have to go with all-black, considering their 9-0 record in it on Sundays this season, as well as the fact that, barring rain delays, the Bulldogs will not play another Sunday game in Omaha.
Uniform Models for the 2019 Starkville Super Regional:
Saturday vs 1(11). Stanford: Maroon 85 over White: #44 Ethan Small
Sunday vs 1(11). Stanford: Black 85 over Black: #8 Dustin Skelton
The timing of that first game brings up an interesting dilemma, as Ethan Small has already been named the Bulldogs' starter for that game. Small has worn maroon in every single one of his starts this year, but we’ve also worn black in every Sunday game this season. You would think that State would have to go with all-black, considering their 9-0 record in it on Sundays this season, as well as the fact that, barring rain delays, the Bulldogs will not play another Sunday game in Omaha.
Uniform Models for the 2019 Starkville Super Regional:
Saturday vs 1(11). Stanford: Maroon 85 over White: #44 Ethan Small
Sunday vs 1(11). Stanford: Black 85 over Black: #8 Dustin Skelton
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