A day at the zoo with MSU

So, the Mississippi State baseball team went to the Omaha Zoo today.

With three days off as a reward for being in the winner’s bracket, John Cohen decided to take his team out for an afternoon of fun after the morning practice.

Being the in-house journalist I am, I followed the team, perhaps a bit sneakily so, and wrote down the things I heard them say.

Full disclosure: they had no idea (I think) that I was doing this.

More disclosure: with so many guys around, I couldn’t always tell who said what, nor can I fully guarantee that I’ve attributed quotes to the right person. But hey, this is just for fun.

I then emptied my notepad in the space below. There is no context for any of these quotes, simply the words which were said.

A quick aside before: a group of players was watching a tiger when it started roaring. The “roar” sounded as much like “Maroooon” as any cheer in the stands ever has. The team replied, “Whiiiiite.” The tiger replied, the team did the same, and so on for several stanzas, with nearby children even joining in the fun. It was pretty entertaining, and a good omen, at the least. Check it out here.

Anyway, off we go with about an hour of random things I heard. Imagine for yourselves what scenarios may have caused the conversation.

———————————————-

John Cohen: “I’m liking the surface.”

Evan Mitchell: “Do they just let turtles walk around here?”

“I could honestly see Renfroe getting kicked out of the           World Series for chasing one of these animals.”

Kendall Graveman: “What do you smell, Pirtle?”

Luis Pollorena: “It’s Kimpossible!”

Alex Detz: “They’re mating.”

Micth Slauter: “That thing eats chickens.”

Derrick Armstrong: “No, bro, I don’t like that stuff like this.”

Hunter Renfroe: “Is that water?”

Ben Bracewell: “Stick your pencil in it.”

Renfroe: “Holy tree frog!”

Demarcus Henderson: “Hold my hand.”

Detz: “We’re lost.”

Henderson: “Vampire bats?”

Renfroe: “Look at him, he’s drinking blood.”

Graveman: “That’s like a pterodactyl.”

Henderson: “If alligators are in here this ledge ain’t high enough.”

Pollorena: “Don’t shine the light! What if it attacks?”

Bracewell: “Hey, look at this turtle.”

Pollorena: “I’m so scared right now.”

Graveman: “That thing is fat.”

Detz: “He was sitting there looking at me.”

[Not Available]: “Look at him. He’s trying to open the door.”

Evan Mitchell: “Renfroe, you could catch him?”

“We got a prison break!”

“That is the biggest cat I’ve ever seen.”

Random child: “Will it eat you?”

Evan Mitchell: “You never know.”

‘Chip Barks’: “Simba!”

Jacob Lindgren: “Hey Smokey!”

[Not Available]: “Do you smell that?”

[Not Available]: “That’s nasty.”

[Not Available]: “That’s bigger than it should be.”

[Not Available]: “It walks like Renfroe.”

[Not Available]: “Baxter!”

Nic Flair: “I’ve got a cookie but I’m saving it for the prairie dogs.”

Brett Pirtle: “Let’s get on top of the gorilla.”

Lindgren: “Aww, how pretty.”

“There’s dinosaurs in there.”

[Not Available]: “That gorilla attacked C.T.”

Random Person: “Where’s Wes Rea?”

Jonathan Holder: *points to gorillas*

Tyler Bratton: “If his lips were a foot he’d wear a size 13.”

“He needs some lotion.”

 

At this point, I lost track of the players after a commotion in the primate area where a gorilla nearly busted open the protective glass and caused MSU to have to leave the College World Series. Video here.

Everyone was perfectly safe, of course, and no animals were harmed in the making of this blog. Perhaps a few egos, though.

On the arm of Girodo, Bulldogs advance in College World Series

“The story of the game is Chad.”

I’m not one to argue with coaches, especially Mississippi State’s John Cohen when he’s in the middle of the College World Series.

But even if I wanted to, I couldn’t now. Senior pitcher Chad Girodo, despite the headline-grabbing heroics at the plate, was absolutely the driving force behind MSU’s win over Indiana Monday night.

“Some clutch at-bats there in the 8^th,” Cohen conceded, “but Chad just battling, and battling and battling.”

The Bulldogs entered the game riding high, but not without pressure, knowing a win would ensure them a three-day break in the winner’s bracket and that someone would have to beat them twice to keep the Dawgs out of the World Series Championship.

State came out perhaps a little amped up, Cohen said after the game, and had moments where the outlook wasn’t promising.

Two in particular seemed to offer some hope, once when Girodo escaped a jam in the fifth with runners at both second and third.

The next came when Wes Rea knocked in a score to make it a one-run game in the sixth.

With two outs and the bases loaded in that same inning, Trey Porter stepped to the plate, visions of glory running through his mind and everyone else around him, with the Bulldogs down one and a potential lead on the other end of this at-bat.

With Burke Masters sitting 50 feet away, the grand-slam hero of MSU’s 1990 Starkville Regional, the full-circle poetry of a shot over the wall would’ve been Shakespearean.

The pitch came, Porter unloaded and the ball flew into the air. Fast. And high.

But fate preferred cruel irony than historic prose, as Porter’s ball sailed and sailed over the expansive outfield, only to fall short at the warning track, with the inning over and Indiana’s lead preserved.

Just as MSU won Friday against Oregon State, it seemed perhaps they had lost in the same fashion on Monday.

“We were kind of down,” Porter admitted afterward.

Fast-forward to the bottom of the seventh, and Girodo cements his status as “the story of the game.”

I watched from the side of the dugout as he retired three of the four batters, and despite some earlier shakiness, looked like the postseason MVP he’s been for MSU.

His final strikeout was as impressive as just about any by a Bulldog pitcher. When that last slider crossed the plate, ending the inning as the batter could do nothing but look, MSU’s dugout erupted.

Why? They were still down, after all. But something about how impressive Girodo was, how he kept dealing, continued making batters look silly, got the Bulldogs as excited as I had seen them all day.

Fist-bumps, high-fives and even hugs. Kendall Graveman ran to the front of the dugout carrying the team’s talisman, the sledgehammer from fall practice.

In that moment, through that pitch, something changed.

“It was kind of like a switch turned as soon as he struck the guy out,” Porter said.

“I saw that,” Cohen agreed.

Sports in general, and particularly baseball, allow for those involved and watching to feel the intangible and see the invisible.

“That’s a momentum shift,” sophomore closer Jonathan Holder said. “Those are huge. When it goes to the other team, you can tell. When it comes to us, you can tell. We got it there.”

Life had returned to the Bulldogs.

There was excitement in the dugout, optimism all around, despite still trailing with the eighth inning about to begin.

“We’re usually playing from behind, so it’s not anything we’re not used to,” Porter said.

“When you got a guy putting up goose eggs for you,” Rea said, “there finally comes a time, emotionally, mentally, physically, that you say, ‘Alright, we need to make something happen for this guy. He’s dealing. We score two runs, we’re gonna win the ball game.’

That they did, and then some. Brett Pirtle started it off with a single. Rea followed up with one of his own, sending Pirtle to third. Demarcus Henderson arrived at the plate and sent one into the outfield, tying the game at 3-apiece.

At this point IU finally had to change pitchers. When the new arm came to the mound, Porter returned to the plate.

“We were hoping Coach would keep going with him,” Holder said.

Again, the Bulldogs had two outs and the winning runs on base for Porter.

Again, the pitch came and Porter’s bat swung over the plate, cracking with the hit of the ball.

But this time, the ball fell into green grass in right center field. As Porter sprinted to first, two of his teammates crossed the plate, giving the Bulldogs a lead they would never relinquish.

Porter returned to the dugout a hero after the final out was made, greeted with hugs, back-slaps, cheers and a sledgehammer. MSU knew what had just happened. They knew they won.

And it all started with Girodo’s pitch.

“You can’t let the guy go out there and do what he was doing and just sit back trailing one run,” Porter said.

Now, the Bulldogs are one win away from playing for the National Championship, and three away from winning it, should fate be so kind.

“That was unreal,” Holder said, echoing the thoughts of State fans around the country. “It was cool.”

Battle of America’s hottest teams in Omaha tonight, MSU-Indiana

Tonight, two of the hottest teams in the country will face off on ESPN2.

Naturally, any team in the World Series is playing well, but Mississippi State and Indiana are a combined 21-3 in their last 12 games each.

Dating back to their the final regular season game against South Carolina, the Bulldogs are 10-2, while the Hoosiers have gone on a red-hot 11-1 streak as they enter game two of the College World Series, including a 6-0 run to date in the postseason.

“The key is who gets hot at the right time,” senior MSU pitcher Kendall Graveman said. “For us, right now, we’re kind of rolling. Not only the physical part of it, but mentally, we get down in a game, we’re like, ‘Man, we’re gonna be OK. We’ll be able to come back.’ We’ve done it for the last month.”

Such has been the story for MSU as the Dawgs made their run to Omaha, and even after arriving. MSU has comeback after comeback, followed by late-inning wins and last-pitch drama.

While it may not have been kind to their blood pressure, MSU fans have had plenty of entertainment the last several weeks.

But, oddly enough, first baseman Wes Rea likes it that way. At least a little bit.

“As stupid as it sounds, I kinda like giving up the runs in the first inning,” Rea said, “because it seems like we do it every game and we just never lose confidence. We know we’re gonna score on guys. Of course, I’d like to have a 0-spot in the first inning, but it seems like we do it a lot and the team stays focused and calm.”

“For us to be able to do that” Graveman said, “and have the confidence not only physically, but mentally; the game’s not over until that last pitch is thrown. It’s also something that humbles us. It’s also not over when we’re on the mound. For us to keep battling and grinding and finding a way to win has been pretty big.”

Big enough to have the Bulldogs in the College World Series, anyway.

In particular, MSU has been more successful at the plate the last several weeks than just about anyone in the country, as the Dawgs have scored five runs or more in 10 of their last 12 games, including 28 in their last four.

Of course, the team they face tonight – Indiana – has racked up 29 runs in their last four outings.

Sports often have a way of playing out in the opposite fashion of what we expect, but on paper, MSU-IU ought to be an offensive affair at TD Ameritrade Park.

MSU had some relative struggles at the plate in the early goings of the season, but the production the last few weeks has propelled State to where it is now.

“We’ve seen so many pitchers, so many live arms, the hitting this time of year is so much better than it was a month or two months ago,” Graveman said.

Rea has been one of the primary producers at the plate, most recently knocking in the two winning runs against Oregon State on Saturday night to open the World Series.

The junior standout has been on a tear since the postseason began, but sees a team-wide production level higher than previous standards.

“You get in a groove as a team, not only individual,” he said. “When the whole team is putting runs on the board, the same things keep happening over and over again, the same situations keep coming up. It’s been happening for us. The whole team has just kept confidence throughout the whole season.”

In that same opening game, junior shortstop Adam Frazier became the single-season hits record-holder when he reached base on a double in his first at-bat of the contest.

“I think everybody’s been a little more focused, it feels like,” he said of MSU’s hitting prowess. “We’ve been hitting pitches and not chasing too much out of the zone.

“If you’re on a hot streak in baseball, you don’t want time off. Hopefully we can keep it up.”

A testament to the focus Frazier mentioned, he was hardly aware of the record he broke, and he certainly wasn’t too fussed about it. Not now, anyway.

“Feels pretty good, I guess,” he replied when asked after the game what it was like getting the milestone. “I really wasn’t thinking about it a whole lot.”

The success for MSU has lied not just with the scoring totals, but with batting smart, making good contact.

“Great barrels,” as one coach in the dugout put it during Saturday’s game.

The Bulldogs have made consistent contact. They’ve gotten on base. Most importantly, they’ve gotten to pitchers.

As Rea mentioned, his team has had no issues coming from behind, something he made happen himself against OSU.

“I knew we were gonna score some more runs,” Graveman recalled. “I just didn’t know when it was gonna be.”

Starting the day, both the Bulldogs and Hoosiers enter on impressive hot streaks. By the end of the night, only one will remain.

Two plays and one win for MSU in Omaha

Baseball is a game of inches. You take it one pitch at a time. The ball has to fall the right way.

And lots of other clichés.

In the first game of the College World Series, the outcome laid primarily on the results of two hits. One by Mississippi State, the other by Oregon State.

The first came in the eighth inning, this one by the Bulldogs.

The Beavers had jumped out to an early lead, after which MSU got hot at the plate and jumped ahead of OSU, only to have the lead re-taken by Oregon State.

Then, in the eighth inning, MSU’s Wes Rea stood just outside the dugout, watching, observing and learning.

“In the on-deck circle, Brett Pirtle was up before me, and the pitcher wiped twice,” Rea recalled. “Both times he wiped, he was going down his chest, he went change-up and he got a swing-and-miss. I feel like he’s a starting pitcher and when he’s really feeling a pitch he’s gonna stick to it. So I was the plate and he wiped. I already thought he was sitting on a change-up situation, then he wiped and it boosted my confidence a little bit more.”

With the knowledge gained from scouting and the hot bat he’d been swinging all postseason, Rea watched the change-up come to the plate, waited, then swung and with the crack of the bat MSU’s first baseman sent one lining to the outfield, scoring two of his teammates and taking a 5-4 lead his team would ultimately never give up.

“I was fortunate enough he threw one over the middle of the plate I was able to do something with,” Rea said.

The lead, however, was certainly in danger of being lost with two outs left in the game. All-American closer Jonathan Holder watched the batter in front of him with two men on base behind him. In the bottom of the ninth inning, OSU could take a lead and seal the victory, sending MSU to the losers’ bracket after day one.

With two outs and every eye on him, Holder wound up, followed through and let the ball fly toward OSU’s Danny Hayes.

Crack.

The ball went flying. And kept flying, deep across the sky over right field.

“That ball…That ball was well-hit,” John Cohen said with a wry grin.

As the ball sailed through the air, MSU’s dugout rose to their feet. The stadium behind them did the same.

This was the last pitch. One way or the other, the game ended here.

“I think everybody might have had a shaky feeling there,” Holder said with a laugh. “I left a curveball hanging for a second there. He hit it pretty good.”

The ball kept sailing, with right fielder Hunter Renfroe sprinting underneath it.

Then, Renfroe stopped, just before the wall, and turned. His glove went into the air and the ball fell in. The Maroon-clad fans just feet away from him raised their arms in triumph, while those in the dugout hurdled the fence and chased Holder down at the mound.

The Bulldogs won.

“Like Coach Cohen says, sometimes the ball falls for you and sometimes it doesn’t. It was in our favor,” Rea said.

“Why having a beard will help the Mississippi State baseball team go to Omaha”

Before the 2013 baseball season started, Trevor Fitts, an enterprising young pitcher at Mississippi State, wanted to grow some facial hair. The problem: John Cohen has never before allowed his teams to do so.

Knowing his coach is a frequent user and proponent of PowerPoint presentations, Fitts took the initiative on behalf of his teammates to make a PowerPoint presentation for his head coach.

The story of the presentation came out last week during a discussion about how much fun this team has (and how goofy they are). The loose style of play is what the players and coaches credit with their reaching the College World Series.

And beards. Both were the goal at the beginning of the Bulldogs’ season, and both have now been accomplished.

Thank you, Trevor Fitts. Thank you.

Sledgehammers, fun and memories have Diamond Dawgs in Super Regional

(On Sunday night, Mississippi State played Central Arkansas with a chance to win the Starkville Regional. The Bulldogs lost, playing their worst game of the weekend, as players conceded they were on edge, not having fun as they usually do. On Monday night, in an elimination game with the season on the line, senior pitchers Kendall Graveman and Luis Pollorena carried sledgehammers with them in the dugout. MSU won the game handily and plays Virginia in the Charlottesville Super Regional beginning Saturday.)

“Sunday night,” Graveman recalled on Wednesday, “it was a weird feeling. That’s not who we were. We kind of played tense. The dugout didn’t feel relaxed. We got down and there was just a bad feeling in the dugout.”

“The moment you’re uptight and tense is when everything goes bad for you,” junior first baseman Wes Rea agreed. “We had the talk Monday and understood that it was win or go home, but we knew you weren’t gonna play your best if you played like that was the case. We had a team meeting before the game to say, ‘Look, this is what’s on the line, but we’ve gotta go out there and have fun at the same time.’ I think people did that.”

Photo courtesy: Bill Simmonds

“That’s what baseball is,” junior outfielder Hunter Renfroe extrapolated. “It’s a kids sport. You’re a big kid playing a game. If you’re not having fun doing something, then it’s not worth doing. If you’re having fun, you’re gonna be doing great. It doesn’t matter if you’re striking out. If you’re having fun doing it, you’re gonna do a lot of things right.”

“The sledgehammer,” Graveman explained, “represents what we did in the fall. That was our whole deal. We worked so hard to get to this point. Every week in the fall, we’d give out a sledgehammer to the person that worked hardest that week and put forth the most effort. To win, that was something that was special in the fall. “

“We work our butts off,” junior outfielder Demarcus Henderson deadpanned. “It’s an honor to get, because you really have to work hard. Our workouts are not the easiest. Our workouts are to the point you really wanna give up halfway through.

“You look at that sledgehammer and you just automatically think about what we went through in the fall,” he continued, “the competitions we went through, the blood, sweat and tears every day running. Those were no easy tasks.

“You think, ‘if I can get through that, I can do this.’”

Sophomore closer Jonathan Holder added, “It kind of just rings a bell, saying, ‘If you earned this in the fall, you didn’t just get it. You had to work hard to get it. None of these games are gonna come easy. You have to work hard.’”

“When you come to the end of something,” Rea considered, recalling the season-on-the-line feeling Monday night, “you always think about what you worked at to get where you are. That’s just a symbol of reminding us of all the work we’ve gone through, how long this process has been, to remind you that you don’t want it to be over.”

“Once we’re relaxed and we’re goofing off in the locker room, it’s hard to beat us,” Henderson conceded. “We’re goofing off, we’re having fun and just joking around, we’re one of the hardest teams to beat.”

“We like to get crazy,” Holder echoed, “have some fun.”

“We got [sophomore pitcher] Ross Mitchell in our arms and threw him out of the dugout before the game,” Holder recalled with a guilty smile. “It’s just something we came up with at the beginning of the year, and it eventually got bigger and bigger to where we’re walking around everywhere yelling and screaming. I don’t know if other teams watch it, but if I see people in the other dugout hollerin’ and screaming like that, I’d probably wonder what they’re doing.”

“That’s the strength of our team, I’d say,” junior outfielder C.T. Bradford added. “We have a bunch of just good guys. They do a good job of keeping everyone in it and keeping everyone loose and not pressing when things get tough, which we could’ve done very easily on Monday. If you were in that dugout or locker room, you wouldn’t even know that our season could’ve ended in a couple hours.”

“When we play relaxed, we play the best,” Holder said simply, finalizing his thoughts on the reappearance of the sledgehammers.

“It brought us back to the fall,” Renfroe said, “and how hard we worked for it and how much it meant to us and how much fun we have.”

“For us to bring back those memories of how hard we worked was something that we really wanted to hold on to,” Graveman concluded. “I’m pretty sure they’ll be making the trip to Virginia.”

10 years worth the wait for Mississippi State baseball

In few places are the lives of fans and a team so intertwined as Mississippi State and its faithful baseball following.

As MSU’s entire team walked the full length of the fences along the first base line, outfield and third base line, shaking hands, high-fiving and even hugging strangers-turned-family after a Regional championship, the bond was clear.

Courtesy: Bill Simmonds

Often, after big wins, fans rush the field. They didn’t on Monday night, so the Bulldogs went to them. 6’5”, 275-pound first baseman Wes Rea was diving over the fence, halfway into the stands, embracing fans and yelling in triumph.

It had been 10 years since MSU hosted an NCAA Regional, and six since the last time Dudy Noble Field held postseason baseball of any kind.

Entering the 2013 season with both hype and one of the toughest schedules in the country, many on the outside connected MSU to the College World Series before the first pitch was even thrown.

In Starkville, under John Cohen, the true goal was for a return to tradition, starting with the preseason theme, “We’re Back.”

“These kids wanted to bring a Regional to Starkville, Mississippi, and that’s exactly what they did,” Cohen said. “They know how special our fans are. Our fans created an unbelievable atmosphere all weekend long. It just truly is a special place, especially during Regional time. I can tell you, there was a lot of discussion in our locker room; if we get to host a Regional, it will be crazy, the fans, the atmosphere. Our kids earned that, they deserved this. I’m so proud of them, but I’m equally excited for our fans because I know they’ve wanted to host a Regional and I appreciate all their support.”

Collective attendance for the weekend topped 60,000 and MSU averaged over 10,000 for each of its four games in the Regional.

Baseball means something to people at Mississippi State.

In the week leading up to the action, just as much time was spent by opposing coaches and players talking about the atmosphere of ‘The Dude’ as anything else.

As they pointed out, MSU fans care about the Diamond Dawgs, and are knowledgeable in doing so.

Walking through the grandstands Saturday night as MSU beat South Alabama, a pair of Bulldog fans moved in a dream-like state, smiles permanently etched on their faces, nowhere else they’d rather be.

On the way to Dudy Noble, the couple stopped at the Drill Field, where much to her surprise, he dropped to one knee and asked the most important question of their young lives.

She said yes.

Then they hurried to the ballpark to watch their Bulldogs.

“Bulldogs won and we got engaged,” the bride-to-be tweeted. “Could it have been any better? Hail State.”

The decade hiatus was worth the wait for MSU, though Cohen’s team doesn’t plan on waiting more than 12 months for the next one.

“Even though it’s been 10 years,” Athletic Director Scott Stricklin said, “you could tell we weren’t out of practice. It was a lot of fun. We want to create great experiences and win consistently and our athletic events are great experiences when people show up and support our kids. Averaging 10,000 fans at the four Mississippi State games here at Dudy Noble brought back a lot of memories and we don’t need to wait 10 years to do it again.”

“Greatest baseball games I’ve ever attended,” tweeted @theBrandito. “Atmosphere was next to none.”

An atmosphere created by engagement from the fans, both of the marital type and the attention and focus on the game.

“Greatest college baseball atmosphere in the country, hands down,” @g_alford tweeted. “Received many compliments on MSU hospitality, too.”

“Liveliest crowd at DNF I’ve ever seen,” @bvanderford129 agreed. “First trip to NDF for my girlfriend and now she wants to go to every MSU game we can.”

And as one put it, a return to what is expected at Dudy Noble.

“The norm for MSU, but still an outstanding weekend.” @DrewCaves93 tweeted.

In the immediate moments following Central Arkansas’ defeat of the Bulldogs on Sunday night and 24 hours before MSU would go on to secure a berth in a Super Regional, disappointment was an easy feeling to have.

But perhaps it was fate playing its veiled hand, extending MSU’s return to home-field glory for one more night.

Standing in right field as Monday’s championship game neared conclusion, Hunter Renfroe had a world in front of him. The junior is projected by many to be a high pick in the MLB Draft, and while his concern right now is making it to the World Series, the possibility that it was his last game at Dudy Noble was not lost on the fans.

Maroon and White clad Bulldogs lining the right field fence chanted “Thank You Hunter” as the game approached its end.

Renfroe turned after several stanzas, removed his cap and waved to the faithful fans who had cheered him on the last three years.

“You saw what was there,” Renfroe said, referring to the crowds. “That’s not news to anybody. The fans here are 100 percent supportive of us and it’s one of the best atmospheres in college baseball. Whether we lose or win, they’re gonna back us 100 percent. Everybody saw that, how the fans reacted to us winning and going to a Super Regional.”

After starting on the first base line, the Bulldogs were near the end of their victory lap with fans when someone in right field placed a cowbell in Renfroe’s hand.

Old, rusty, beat up and dented from years of Mississippi State athletics, the relic of Bulldog history passed into Renfroe’s grip and stuck with him as he was ushered along the fence to continue celebrating with fans.

In the post-game press conference, Renfroe sat down in his chair and placed his new cowbell at the front of the table, right next to his nameplate.

“It’s been through the ringer a few times,” he said with an unintentional smile. “It means a lot.”

Behind the Scenes: The preparation of Dudy Noble Field for the NCAA Regional

When it began to look like Mississippi State might host an NCAA Regional, the first story I knew I wanted to do was on MSU’s grounds crew.

Every big event at Dudy Noble Field, people find their seats and immediately comment how great the field looks. So clean, bright, uniform and well-patterned. As it should be at the school formerly named Mississippi A&M.

A Regional, of course, is about as big of an event as The Dude will host, so I called Bart Prather, the superintendent of sports turf on campus, the resident playing surface expert and the man in charge  of Dudy Noble’s Dude-ness.

I asked if I could follow him and his crew around as they got ready for the big weekend.

“Sure, we’re getting started around 7 a.m. on Wednesday.”

Oof.

I’m not sure what my coffee-saturated brain expected to see when I walked out onto the field. Lots of mowing, maybe?  There were plenty of machines capable of cutting grass, but the hours of preparation are spent on the details, far more than keeping outfield grass short.

I was at least a little confused when I saw Brandon Hardin, Prather’s right-hand man, methodically driving the mower back and forth, up and down the outfield, without putting the blades down. No grass being cut.

Turns out, he was working on the first thing anyone at the game will notice: the pattern in the grass, alternating dark and light lines of field.

Working on MSU’s various fields for almost nine years now, Hardin has Prather’s trust to, basically, design Dudy Noble Field. No pressure when it’s the biggest weekend MSU has had in years.

“I just let him do what he wants now,” Prather said. “He was on vacation a couple weeks ago and probably started planning this out on the beach.”

Whether out of embarrassment or honesty, Hardin assured me he kept grass out of his mind while he was in the sand.

But the designs are taken seriously. Prather and his crew have books full of outfield and infield designs, and he shared story after story of former students and assistants who had a knack for the unique artistry.

One former student, now working on the field of the Boston Red Sox, was apparently a prodigy in grass design, and it was he who was responsible for once laying out the interlocking ‘M’ and ‘S’ in centerfield.

The trick is precision, keeping the lines equal width, particularly difficult with the curvy design Hardin has selected for this weekend’s Regional.

And no, Prather said, it isn’t done by cutting the grass different lengths.

“People always ask if me that’s how we do it,” he said with a bewildered look on his face. “Of course we don’t make the grass the uneven.”

On the back of the mower are two steel rollers, seemingly innocuous on a machine with massive metal blades protruding from the front end.

Surprisingly enough to me, if not others, the light and dark lines on Dudy Noble Field are simply a trick of the light. Hardin drops the rollers down, pushing the grass down in the direction of the outfield fence as he drives the mower that direction. When he turns to drive down the line next to the one he just made, the rollers push the grass down in the opposite direction, toward home plate.

The grass going away from your eyes reflects the sun back at you, creating the light lines. The grass coming toward the eyes reflects the sun in the opposite direction, creating dark lines. Easy and brilliant at the same time.

In fact, as Prather demonstrated near the third base foul line, if you stand in the middle of a line, it will be dark on your right and light on your left (or vice-versa), another trick of the light.

The design you see from a seat in the press box is a mirror image of the design seen by someone sitting in the lounge at centerfield, the same look, but reversed.

Hardin will re-pave his design twice a day, every day. The infield lines, I found out, are actually done with a walk-behind greens mower, again with blades up and rollers down.

However, while the appearance is the most-noticeable, the state of the field for players is of significantly more importance.

Prather and his crew began working on the field as soon as the final series of the regular season was finished, just in case. They poked a few extra holes in the outfield grass just to make sure it wouldn’t get water-logged in the event of rain, the proverbial thorn in the side of the field staff.

The maintenance of the grass is one of the toughest parts this time of year. The base of both the infield and outfield is Bermuda grass, which is actually a lighter green, while a layer of rye grass lays on top, offering a darker green, giving the field its rich look, with extra help from a solution Prather called “liquid iron” which, after three or four hours of setting, adds a vibrance to the green of the grass.

The rye will be chemically removed at the end of the season and summer camps, while the Bermuda base is tended to carefully.

The field does have its odd places, though, and if you look this weekend, you’ll see Prather’s favorite blemish when MSU’s defense takes the field.

Junior shortstop Adam Frazier plays deep in the infield. So deep, in fact, he used to be in the grass. Used to be, past tense, because he’s actually worn out a square of outfield grass where it meets infield dirt over the last three seasons.

While taking great pride in the appearance and perfection of his fields, Prather does enjoy this particular spot.

“As long as Frazier’s here, we’re gonna leave it,” he said. “He’s just gonna wear it out, anyway.”

The dirt Frazier and the basemen play on is tended to carefully, as well.

Prather is constantly keeping the infield in a perfect balance of firm but not rock hard.

“We want it playable,” he said. “Give it a truer hop.”

The dirt, both on the infield and throughout the warning track, is topped with an absorbent clay creation called Turface, which is actually made in Mississippi. The Turface accomplishes Prather’s goal of a natural, playable field that won’t be rock hard after days of sun or thick and muddy after hours of rain.

Beyond mowing, rolling, raking and laying dirt, the details of preparation and operation include both the lines on the field and the precision-cut lines between grass and dirt. The crew cleans the turf in front of the dugouts, generally covered after games with sunflower seeds from the players, Prather told me with an exasperated smile.

Logos on the field must be stenciled and painted, the dirt on the warning track has to be evened and smoothed, bullpens and dugouts need to be cleaned, the infield requires watering and a day’s worth of details must be attended to.

And it all has to be done again after each of the four teams practice, before and after each game, and don’t get anyone started on what happens if rain comes in.

On gameday, Prather’s crew starts work at 6:30 in the morning and finishes about an hour and a half after the final pitch. From Selection Sunday to the final day of the Regional, Prather estimates every member of will have put in 75-80 hours a piece on Dudy Noble Field.

But it’s all worth it, even if at the end of it all, his masterpiece is taken over by excited fans after a season-continuing victory.

“If they rush the field, that usually means you won and it’s over,” Prather said. “We like that. When we won the Super Regional in 2007 to go to the World Series, we just grabbed the bases and got out of the way.”

Dudy Noble Field, ‘the Carnegie Hall of college baseball,’ hosts postseason play once again

“This is one of the great venues in college baseball,” Central Arkansas coach Allen Gum said. “Has been for years. I remember growing up watching it.”

For the first time in a decade, Dudy Noble Field will once again host an NCAA Regional, resuming its rightful place as one of the most storied parks in the country, carrying the mantle of unique history and tradition in college baseball.

“This is what you play college baseball for,” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said. “It’ll be a great atmosphere.”

The numbers are clear, as Mississippi State holds the entire Top 10 list of biggest college baseball crowds.

But behind the numbers are steel contraptions lining the outfield wall, smoke rising as meats are grilled and sunscreen lathered on. Hecklers of the highest regard filling the Left Field Lounge, lauded as both knowledgeable and unendingly persistent.

“I’ve heard some different things,” Gum said with a wry smile. “I think I even heard one time an outfielder mooned the crowd.”

As an opposing player, you’ve got to be prepared to handle 14,000-plus yelling fans from every direction, Calvi said.

“Will they get their feelings hurt if they make an error?” he asked, “Yeah, so don’t make an error.”

Part of the legend of State fans, however, is their history of being as generous as they are intimidating.

Pictures surfaced last week of South Carolina outfielders being fed chicken and beef along the outfield wall while the Gamecocks made a pitching change.

“Maybe they can poison it or something give us a little advantage or something,” Bulldog shortstop Adam Frazier said with a laugh at the memory. “No, I know they give those guys a hard time, I guess they wanna make up for it a little bit by giving them some food. I think it’s pretty cool. It’s fun for the opposing teams to have that opportunity to play in front of a crowd like this.”

Craig Gibson, head coach of the Mercer Bears, brought his team to Starkville in 2010. It was spring break at the time, not nearly the numbers in the crowd he expects to see as he plays in this weekend’s regional, but even then, the Bulldogs were reliable as ever.

“Back in 2010,” Gibson said, “we had more pitchers that were willing to run after the game. We were wondering what was going on and they said, ‘Coach, they’re feeding us in the outfield.’”

John Cohen, head coach for MSU, was part of three regionals on MSU’s campus when he played for the Bulldogs in college. Now, he gets to coach as the host for the first time.

As a lifelong Bulldog, the importance of the event is not lost on him. He understands the effect a crowd can have better than anyone, having been a part of the locally-legendary 1990 Regional.

Down to Florida State in the ninth inning, in front of thousands upon thousands of Maroon and White clad fans, Burke Masters stepped to the plate for the Bulldogs and crushed one of the most famous hits in MSU history, a go-ahead grand slam to secure victory for his beloved school over the threatening Seminoles.

Cohen was in the on-deck circle as he watched the ball fly through the air and into the sea of jumping fans in the outfield.

“That was a special moment,” Cohen said. “You’re just feeding off the crowd. The crowd’s trying to will those great moments. That’s why you gather and as my wife would say, the Carnegie Hall of college baseball here. You just think special things are gonna happen. You have kids on a club that want those things to happen.

“You just feel like you’re supported,” Cohen continued. “You feel like it’s one big family. I’ve always said the strength of Mississippi State is the people. You might not have the most money, the most of this, the most of that, but our people are of the highest quality. Our people make the difference. They want to will things to happen for our players and they know what we’re all about. It’s just a great environment.

Since NCAA Regional hosts were announced Sunday night, Cohen said he’s been getting tweets, texts, emails and the like all week, reminding him of Masters’ legendary swing of the bat.

In the days since, he’s gone back to listen to the call.

MSU radio man Jim Ellis did his usual masterful job, Cohen said, and it’s what Ellis didn’t voice that made the difference. In the seconds following the hit, Ellis allowed moments for the sound of the crowd at Dudy Noble to wash over the microphone.

“It’s goosebumps,” Cohen said. “It makes your hair stand on end just to listen to those people.

“You hope that we’re gonna have future moments like that at Dudy Noble.”

In recent history, May has been one of the slowest months of the year in Starkville, when college classes are done and high schools have finished for the summer.

In anticipation of the first Regional since 2003, the city has been alive with anticipation and preparation.

“I guess the 10-year suspense just makes everyone more anxious to come,” Frazier said, who was in sixth grade the last time his university hosted.

“When you live in a college town and something special goes on, everyone knows about it,” Cohen said. “It’s neat. Our kids sense that. They know something special is going on and they want their play to match that. They’re giddy.”

If everyone who made the claim was right, there would be 300 schools tied for having “the best fans in the country.”

At MSU, the Diamond Dawgs have a case for the bravado.

“I think Dudy Noble at its best, when there’s something on the line, when it’s in your face, I can’t imagine…” Cohen said. “Our players are very aware of the fact that we have an atmosphere that can lift kids up. That’s so rare in college baseball.”

“We’ve got the greatest fans in college baseball,” sophomore closer Jonathan Holder said. “Coming back here and playing in front of them is gonna be special.”

On Memorial Day, remembering Old Main and those who lived inside

In January of 1959, one of Mississippi State’s – then Mississippi A&M’s – greatest icons fell. The burning of Old Main dormitory was the end of one of the largest places of student living in the country. As Old Main smoked and charred, it released the memories of the thousands on thousands of Bulldogs who had lived within its now-crumbled walls.

Courtesy, The Reflector

At one time considered even the largest dormitory in the world, Old Main stretched from the front of where the Colvard Student Union stands now, to about halfway through what is currently McCool Hall. Four stories, with over 500 rooms, its fall may be what it took for those of us now to appreciate its importance.

On Memorial Day, a time for remembrance of those whose lives were lost in duty, serving and defending our country, we go to the Chapel of Memories, built from the bricks of Old Main, erected to honor the historic building and those who lived inside.

Construction on Old Main began in 1880, just two years after the school was founded, and its life ran through 1959, less than a year following the institution’s new christening as Mississippi State University. It was home to thousands of heroes, not because they were football players, future leaders, business owners or farmers, but because they fought in every war America entered in Old Main’s nearly 80-year reign on campus.

From its conception, Mississippi State was a largely military school. The Drill Field laid next to Old Main was named, to the state the obvious, because it was the home of military drills and practice.

In 1942, following what remain two of the most successful football seasons in MSU history in 1940 and 1941, the Aggies, as they were known didn’t play a game. There was no probation, nor was there a loss of funding.

Head coach Allyn McKeen couldn’t field a team because he didn’t have enough players. They were all overseas, fighting in World War II.

Team captains of the 1941 team, offensive lineman Bill Arnold and Harold Grove hung up their cleats after graduation in the spring of ’42 and signed up for the Naval Reserve.

The MSU yearbook from the following year said they “continue to show the fine spirit and sportsmanship for Uncle Sam that they have shown for the past four years at State.”

Arnold and Grove are examples of the young men who inhabited the storied walls of Old Main. Men who, in the midst of chemistry classes, English homework and baseball practice, awoke for early mornings and the Drill Field, training for battle across the world, determined to protect the ground their beloved Old Main rested on.

In 1965, six years following the historic fire, the bricks of Old Main rose once more from the ground with the opening of the Chapel of Memories.

A plaque hangs to the side one of the chapel’s three doors, asking for remembrance of those who came before us.

“Old Main was a magnificent building, said at one time to be the world’s largest dormitory under a single roof,” the plaque reads. “Its importance, however, lay in the men it housed. This chapel, built in part of the brick of Old Main, is dedicated to those men and their memories. Its origin is the past; its orientation, the future: toward a greater, finer Mississippi State University.”

Now home to weddings, church services, choirs and stray pianists wandering campus grounds, the Chapel of Memories is place of reflection and happiness, of life and its many blessings, a dedication the very things those who lived in Old Main fought for.

Even across campus, veiled vestiges of Old Main remain. The arched brick entrance to Perry Cafeteria is inviting on its own, sure, but is also a nod to the arches welcoming students into Old Main at that same spot over 100 years ago.

On Memorial Day, we honor, remember and thank those both alive and passed who have served our country, protected our freedoms and offered us the chance to live, learn and grow, unfettered by any who would wish to cause harm.

Because of their selfless sacrifice and tributes, Mississippi State remains.

Beneath the plaque in the Chapel of Memories honoring the men who walked the halls of Old Main, one verse is inscribed on a gold plate, Proverbs 23:12.

“Apply your hearts to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.”

Thank you to every individual who has given us that opportunity.