whole new ballgame

Overheard at a recent ballgame: “If State was ever going to win the College World Series, they’d have won it in 1985.” That’s a legitimate point. The ’85 Mississippi State club, the standard by which all Mississippi college baseball teams are judged, featured seven MLB draft picks, including the great Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Bobby Thigpen and Jeff Brantley. Yes, it is hard to believe that team didn’t win the national title. But that’s baseball, as Ron Polk likes to say. The ’85 Bulldogs won the SEC championship, won 50 games all told, including their first two in the CWS. But they ran into two other giants of that time, Texas and Miami (Fla.), and were bounced, settling for a third-place finish, their best showing in the eight trips to Omaha that preceded the current one. It’s easy to understand why State fans might feel a little frustrated (though not nearly as frustrated as Ole Miss fans, who haven’t had a team in the CWS since 1972, when wood bats were still the rule). But there is a lot to like about the 2013 Bulldogs, from the lightning of Adam Frazier and Alex Detz to the thunder of Hunter Renfroe and Wes Rea. And no team in Omaha has a better cast of relievers than Ross Mitchell, Chad Girodo and Jonathan Holder. This team isn’t as talented as the ’85 Bulldogs, but it doesn’t have to be. History doesn’t matter. There are only eight teams left. One will go home happy, and it doesn’t have to be the most talented team. Just the hottest. That’s baseball. P.S. The Mississippi Braves need a win tonight at Tennessee and some help from Pensacola, which is playing first-place Mobile, to claim the Southern League South first-half championship. Aaron Northcraft (2-4, 4.30 ERA) gets the start for the M-Braves, seeking their first playoff berth since 2008.