Fearless, relentless confidence and excitement can turn to pain and disappointment in the time it takes for a pitch to go from mound to plate.

A team can start a game with momentum and belief, an entire world of postseason dreams and possibilities ahead of them, only to emerge hours later with eight months of training, traveling and competing having culminated in a heartbreaking end on someone else’s field, the imagined future of hours before struck down with no chance at redemption for another eight months.

Years of work and months of games, sure, but also the temporary emptiness, leaving those you battled with behind. No practice tomorrow, no bus ride next week.

The end of a season, no matter how successful, is a mix of emotions for all but one team every year.

As tears streamed throughout the dugout in Mobile Saturday night following elimination from the regional and the end of their season, Mississippi State’s softball team felt those pangs, but not without a level of hope and happiness, an optimism for the future.

Head coach Vann Stuedeman encouraged her team, letting them know their accomplishments were meaningful and that they were a part of something bigger. The future, she believes, is promising and was built by those who were feeling the sting of defeat.

“Last year, we were close to winning one game in SEC series’,” she said. “This year, we won that game and we were close to winning the second game and clinching those series’. Then last year we went to postseason and weren’t able to get a win, and we got a win this year. It’s part of the growing and building process.”

In just two seasons at MSU, Stuedeman has made the NCAA postseason twice, making it to the end of day two in the Mobile Regional over the weekend.

Several key seniors will be gone next year, but eight of nine offensive starters return for the Bulldogs, plus ace pitcher Alison Owen who debuted for MSU this year and set the school’s single-season and NCAA Tournament strikeout records.

Getting to the postseason this year was an impressive feat for a team that played 32 of its 57 games against teams who ultimately made it to an NCAA Regional, and Stuedeman hopes the experience will carry over in the future.

“The underclassmen got a taste for the postseason,” senior first baseman Shelby Fisher said, “and it’s gonna drive them to want more and more of it. It’s gonna be in everyone’s gut.”

The sting of season’s end and the tears streaming in the dugout of the team who just beat them won’t soon be forgotten.

“Getting here and being comfortable in the postseason is always gonna help everybody,” senior outfielder Jessica Cooley said. “I know that this program is going so far, that this is just the beginning of what Vann Stuedeman is gonna do. The sky is the limit for this program. I am extremely blessed to have played for her.”

Standing in front of her team for the final time, commending the seniors, praising the effort of all and thanking them for months on end of training and work, Stuedeman choked up as she told her team how proud of them she is.

“This team has just been through the ringer,” she said. “We’ve played so many games that were so close and could’ve gone our way. It’s just part of the process and building a program.

“This team is resilient,” she told reporters late Saturday night. “I told them to make a decision to either quit or fight. Have fun or be miserable. They could be one-pitch warriors or quit on the at-bat. They made a decision to fight.”

The future appears to hold hope and success, but on Saturday night, Stuedeman was thankful for the team she had, made up of players who bought in and believed.

“I’m really proud of this team and where we started and where we finished,” she said.

Entering his third season with high expectations and plenty of fanfare, Renfroe has delivered and then some. He leads the SEC with 15 home runs on the season and his .691 slugging percentage is tops in the league. Renfroe is batting .362 for the year and has a team-high 51 RBI.

His prowess at the plate has led to 33 walks over the course of the season, some intentional and some not, as well as a team-leading .459 on-base percentage.

Of course, his contribution isn’t solely at the plate. Renfroe’s arm is almost as feared as his bat, given the number of times he’s thrown players out from his spot in right field. Playing the position at Dudy Noble most susceptible to interference from the sun, Renfroe has still worked up a fielding percentage of .952.

With the same speed he uses to chase down fly balls, he’s managed nine stolen bases, tied for tops on the team.

The Bulldogs continue play starting tomorrow in the SEC Tournament against Missouri. I’ll try and catch up with Renfroe soon, and until then, here’s a lengthy profile I wrote on MSU’s star slugger last month.

In the top of the sixth inning, Mississippi Valley State leading Mississippi State 1-0, a media relations person in the press box asked if I wanted to interview anyone from the winning team after the game, meaning Valley.

Two outs for MSU in the bottom of the inning, then the Bulldogs got hot.

Outfielder Jessica Cooley, who had struck out twice in the game, stepped to the plate and drilled a solo home run to dead center, higher than the scoreboard.

Game tied at 1.

A walk and a bunt single later, Shelby Fisher came to the plate with both outs still on the board and hit a liner to left, scoring the go-ahead run and securing the final score of 2-1.

Junior pitcher Alison Owen, who threw MSU’s full game against Florida State yesterday, again pitched a complete game, only allowing one unearned run. With the win Vann Stuedeman improves to 40-1 when leading after six innings.

MSU takes on host South Alabama shortly. Follow @mstateSB and @bobcarskadon on Twitter for updates, or watch via ESPN3.com.

10 a.m., Saturday, Marriott Mobile

Bacon, coffee, fruit, bacon, toast, coffee, bacon and more coffee for breakfast.

It’s elimination day in Mobile, either win or go home, and Mississippi State plays Mississippi Valley State at 3:30 to decide which it will be.

Yesterday’s regional-opening 5-2 loss to Florida State was a bit of a shock to the system for the Bulldogs, who had been off for almost two weeks and may have let nerves get the best of them in the early innings Friday afternoon.

As we’ve chronicled here, Vann Stuedeman and the team worked on a mix of hard practice and recreational enjoyment in the days leading up to the regional. For whatever reason, the relxation turned to stress when yesterday’s game began.

“We need to go back to playing our kind of softball,” outfielder Jessica Offutt said. “I think we just put too much pressure on ourselves.”

The “our kind” of softball that got MSU this far is a fundamental brand of play, being smart, efficient and timely.

With four errors Friday, MSU got away from the fundamentals and lost a bit of the fun when the pressure Offutt mentioned kicked in.

“Softball is catching and throwing, and we just did not do that very well,” Stuedeman said. “We played 12 days ago, that was the first time I’ve seen them tight in 12 days. It just took them a minute to get loose.”

The tightness led to the errors and the errors led to the loss.

Three of FSU’s runs were unearned, coming directly from the errors, which as Stuedeman pointed out after the game, would have kept it tied.

“We should still be playing at 2-2 right now.”

Even those two runs were indirect results of previous errors, where the inning should have been over had things gone as they usually do.

Knowledge of errors does nothing to go back and change the final score, but it gives MSU a clear idea of how to rectify the problem.

“It’s mainly about relaxing, having fun and playing the game we love,” third baseman Logan Foulks said. “Be a Sandlot kinda kid and go out there and have fun. It’s not a big deal. It’s a game that we love.”

The key now, Stuedeman said, is to find a way to make sure that happens.

Make sure MSU plays with the same state of mind that got them comeback wins, blowout victories and hard-fought Ws in the regular season.

That type of play finally began to show in the final innings of Friday’s game, when the Bulldogs put their runs on the board and at one point have enough runners on the field to have potentially tied the game.

MSU’s mantra all season has been “late-game, our game.”

“It’s just a matter of taking those late innings and putting them into tomorrow,” Foulks said after yesterday’s loss.

“I feel bad for them that they couldn’t play loose and enjoy the NCAA postseason,” Stuedeman said. “They earned the right to be here. You only get four chances in your college career.”

GAMEDAY 10 a.m., Friday, Marriott Mobile

Compared to the previous two days, oddly enough, gameday is a pretty relaxed one. For the morning, at least.

At this time yesterday, Mississippi State was halfway through its first of two practices. Today? The Bulldogs just finished breakfast and are hanging out at the hotel, watching TV, messing around on laptops, getting their minds together and ready for the game.

The big game, of course, when MSU plays Florida State at 3:30 in the first game of the regional. The same FSU team which was once again eating breakfast at the same time and place as the Bulldogs. Definitely not awkward.

While gameday does bring a more manageable schedule, it also ramps up the mental game.

One way players and coaches cope: superstitions.

I asked around at breakfast – where assistant coach Beth Mullins said she’ll have the exact same plate of food tomorrow “when we win today.” If it works today, better do it again tomorrow, is the thought.

Freshman outfielder Loryn Nichols will spend most of the morning planning what she’s going to wear. Not because she’s worried about looking good on camera, but because it all has to be done just so.

“I wrap my shoelaces around the bottom of my cleats, then tie them and tuck them into my shoes,” she said. “And all my layers have to be the right colors. They can’t be the same.”

If she’s wearing white pants, it has to be black sliding shorts. Black jersey top? Maroon shirt underneath. And the bow (there has to be a bow) must be a different color from the jersey.

“But if I hit well,” she said, “I wear the same bow the next game, even if it’s the same color.”

Bow continuity takes precedent over alternating colors. Of course, if Nichols goes O-fer and doesn’t get a single hit in a game, she trashes the bow, thrown away forever.

“My mom used to get so mad at me in high school. She’d always yell at me, ‘You’re wasting perfectly good bows!’”

Doesn’t matter. That bow was bad mojo.

Sophomore outfielder Briana Bell, once at the game, doesn’t have many superstitions for what she wears, but don’t touch her bat.

“We’ll try and pick it up to hand it to her,” junior outfielder Rachel Zdeb said, “and she’ll just yell at us, ‘No! I’ll get it!’”

“Someone picked up my bat once,” Bell said. “My eyes got big and I was like, ‘Nooooooo!” and buried my face in my hands.”

Junior pitcher Alison Owen has to do what’s called “touches.” She starts at one end of the dugout and walks to the other, touching every person along the way. Tap on the shoulder, brush of the cleat, whatever is easiest.

A few more gameday rituals I was told, “Don’t put that on your blog.”

Like telling someone what you wished for on a shooting star, sharing the secret would ruin the good vibes.

More of the seemingly-innocuous decisions, but all-too-important decisions to be made before the game: thick headband, no headband, or thin ninja headband? Sunglasses? A visor? Regular ponytail, French braid or something I’ve never heard of called a fishhook braid?

I think that’s what it was called anyway. I can barely tie my shoes, let alone braid anything.

One thing that’s easy to pick out and put on for at least some of them, Nichols and Zdeb shared, is batting gloves.

“I don’t change batting gloves all year. My right one only has four fingers left on it,” Nichols said.

“My entire pointer finger is gone on one of mine,” Zdeb said.

Whatever the superstition or ritual may be, it’s all pre-game. Once the game is over, like it will be later this evening, what’s done is done. The win or loss only affects the next game’s rituals.

We’ll see if the good vibes work this afternoon.

8:30 p.m., Thursday, Marriott Mobile

Finally back at the hotel after a long day, MSU is settled in for the night, resting for the next day’s game.

The team managed to fit a lot into just one day, getting a defensive practice in the morning, a batting practice in the afternoon, a trip to the beach, a few hours of shopping in downtown Fairhope and a lovely dinner at the house of Mullins’s family to cap off the day.

Again, that’s the balance Vann Stuedeman wants. Work hard, have fun. Enjoy yourself.

But, not too much fun. Volleyball and football on the beach is fine, but don’t overdo it. After all, they’ve got a game tomorrow.

And for the love of softball, use sunscreen.

“Vann’s gonna kill me if I get a sunburn,” third baseman Logan Foulks said while retreating to the shade of a pavilion after a swim in surprisingly-warm waters of the bay.

Also, a special thank you from this reporter to Mullins’ family for the delicious dinner after the beach. Young bachelors like myself don’t often get nice home-cooked meals. We do cook meals at home, I just wouldn’t use the word “nice” to describe them. Or any other positive adjective, for that matter.

2:15 p.m., Thursday, The Fieldhouse batting cages

The above video is the first (and quite possibly the last) edition of Dr. Bob with myself junior pitcher Alison Owen. The rest of the team is doing batting practice, so as you can imagine, not a lot to do for ace pitchers.

I’m gonna see if I can get Alison to teach me how to throw a fastball later.

Also, just for fun, here’s a picture of the moment I mentioned earlier, when third baseman Logan Foulks made a diving catch over the dugout railing and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”

11:00 a.m., Thursday, South Alabama softball field

“You’re playing Major League Baseball now,” Vann Stuedeman told her team before practice. “No school, you’ve got your food money and nothing to worry about but softball. This is the dream.”

Indeed it is, playing softball by the beach, which is the kind of mentality Stuedeman wants her team to have.

“You made it to The Dance, be happy and have fun,” she told the team. “Now, there’s a difference between having fun and working hard and then just acting silly. But have fun, work hard and we’re gonna be great.”

The first practice of both the day and the trip was an all-defense outing, working on fielding, turning double plays, catching fly balls and wrangling in bunts, while the next practice, after lunch, is all about hitting.

On one of the final plays of the first practice, an infield pop-up from assistant coach Alan Reach pulled left to the home dugout. Running from the infield, third baseman Logan Foulks sprinted to the dugout, leaned over the waist-high fence guarding the inside and made a near-diving catch.

The entire team erupted in cheers, Foulks ran back to the field, threw the ball in the air behind her and yelled, “We’re going to the Super Regionals!”

Absolutely, Mississippi State is having fun.

8:30 a.m. Marriott Mobile: As we’ve mentioned, the Bulldogs play Florida State in their first game on Friday at 3:30. I noticed an FSU flag had been hung by someone along the stairwell as I worked in the lobby last night.

As fate would have it, the Seminoles are staying in the same hotel as MSU.

Then, as cruel fate crept in, the two teams happened to be at breakfast at the same time today. A little awkward? Certainly.

But, it turns out several of MSU’s players know several more on on FSU’s team from travel ball in high school, and there were even a couple hugs exchanged at breakfast. But just a couple. Not going crazy with the sportsmanship here.

In fact, Foulks – she of the imaginary Regional-winning catch – had been texting and talking to her Seminole friend on the bus ride to Mobile.

Lunch is up next (sub sandwiches, I believe), then hitting practice in Daphne and a trip to the beach in Fairhope for some of that fun, fun, fun Stuedeman was talking about. She may even sing more songs from The Little Mermaid like she did during warm-ups this morning.

9:30 p.m. Wednesday Mobile, Alabama

The Mississippi State softball team has officially arrived and settled in at the scenic Marriott in Mobile for the NCAA Regional.

I’ll be with the team for the rest of the week and I’ll post updates, videos, stories and the like here, so it’ll be nice and easy to keep up with.

The bus pulled out of Starkville at 2:15, with Vann Stuedeman doing interviews by 2:30, and it being a travel day, the softball action was minimal.

The people action, however, was pretty limitless.

An interesting note on that interview, by the way, as Stuedeman was chatting in advance with the TV crew broadcasting MSU’s game on Friday: one of the women on the call happened to be Charlotte Morgan, an All-American coached by Stuedeman at Alabama.

But, after some interviews and extensive discussions among the coaches on how the full NCAA Tournament bracket might play out, the day was mostly music and food.

5:30 p.m.: Almost to Mobile, the entire staff at the front of the bus broke out into song, singing ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles. Why? I’m not sure, but that seems to be something the whole team has in common.

6:30 p.m.: On the way to dinner at the Original Oyster House after dropping bags off at the hotel, I was walking around the back of the bus trying to find out what a couple dozen softball players do for hours on end trapped on the road. There’s video of that below, in which second baseman Heidi Shape somehow managed to get the whole bus clapping and singing Mariah Carey. I’ve still got ‘Always Be My Baby’ stuck in my head, and now you probably will, too.

Also on the bus, Stuedeman announced to the team and congratulated a pair of players who earned a postseason honor, the details of which will be released tomorrow, I’m told.

One thing I forget being from Mississippi, is how many people don’t live near enough to the water to see it often.

As the team sat down with a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the bay, Stuedeman remembered what I did not.

“All you girls from a landlocked state, make sure you’re watching this sunset,” she told them. “There’s not much else this pretty.”

Much shrimp, fish and grits later, we find ourselves pleasantly stuffed and back at the hotel.

Tomorrow will be a significantly busier day, beginning with practice on South Alabama’s field in the morning, the first on-site preparations for MSU’s game against Florida State on Friday at 3:30.

Speaking of that game, the coaches and players are expecting a big crowd of Maroon and White this weekend. Sounds like it’s a nice weekend drive for some people.

After practice is lunch and then, oh hey, more practice. Hitting practice in Daphne, followed by a good three hours of beach and shopping in Fairhope. As I have little to contribute in practice, I’m looking particularly forward to that event.

Another cool, small-world-after-all story: assistant coach Beth Mullins is from Mobile, so the team is heading out to her parents’ house for dinner at the end of Thursday.

I’ll have updates, pictures and probably even a few videos throughout the day. Make sure to follow MSU softball (@mstateSB) and myself (@bobcarskadon) on Twitter, and an easy way to keep up with everything is the one-stop coverage center at HailState.com

(Clap)

(Stomp)

(Clap)

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Standing 6’2” and weighing in at 230 pounds with a mane of curly, dark hair trailing onto his shoulders, Jonathan Holder is an intimidating sight on the mound.

Just a sophomore, Mississippi State’s All-American closer is John Cohen’s near-guaranteed game-saver. Starting with his first appearance as a freshman and stretching all the way into his second season, Holder went his first 27-straight innings without giving up a single run. The 18-year-old was a star not just in the regular season, but in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Regional, after just finishing his first year of college.

Holder has no fear on the mound.

Striding out of the bullpen late in the game, Johnny Cash’s slow, deliberate tune ‘God’s Gonna Cut You Down’ rings over Dudy Noble Field as Holder approaches his workshop 60 feet from home plate.

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

“Jonathan Holder is like an artist at work,” Cohen said. “It’s just fun to watch. A club has so much confidence late in a ball game when Jonathan Holder is on the mound for you. You feel like he’s just gonna keep the other team from scoring.”

How Holder keeps the other team from scoring, how he cuts them down from pitch-to-pitch, is a surprise to everyone watching, often including the batter himself.

One pitch may be a 94 MPH fastball down the middle, the next an 75 MPH curveball starting in the sky and finishing in the dirt.

“It’s tough,” junior outfielder CT Bradford said of Holder’s curve. “I can see it from center, I’ve got a perfect view. It starts around their eyes and ends around their ankles. It’s a really good pitch.”

Good enough, at least, that a batter for Alabama struck out swinging in the 11^th inning last weekend.

And he was trying to bunt.

“He really understands how to pitch off of his fastball and his curveball,” Cohen said, “and the two are so dissimilar that if you guess on one, you’re going to get destroyed by the other. When you get as many strikeouts as he’s getting on called third strikes, then you have somebody who is commanding the baseball, and he has two separate dominant pitches.”

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news

My head’s been wet with the midnight dew

I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee

He spoke to me in the voice so sweet

I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet

He called my name and my heart stood still

When he said, “John, go do My will!”

Holder’s game is more effective than most once he takes the mound, but it starts long before then.

His hair hasn’t been cut in over a year, adding to his already intimidating physical presence.

In the bullpen, Holder looks more like an American Gladiator than a sophomore closer. Some guys pitch, some stretch, some wind their arms to get loose in the pen. Holder instead walks to the catchers’ end of the bullpen, clearing the area of any who could be in harm’s way.

A big smile on his face, he crouches down, grabs a medicine ball, then bursts upward and throws the ball as high over his head as he can, a watchful teammate standing 30 feet behind to secure the ball on its return to ground.

“That’s just a routine I’ve gotten into that I enjoy,” Holder said. “It gets you explosive and it gets you pushing off the ground.”

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

Cash’s song rumbles through Polk-Dement Stadium, fans rise to their feet behind the outfield fence, scouts, reporters and opposing batters look to the bullpen gate, knowing who will walk out.

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

“I was trying to get something intimidating,” Holder said. “I know last year, I didn’t even hear my walk-out song I was so zoned in. This year, I can enjoy it a little bit while I run to the mound. That’s the way I try to work. It keeps me focused and it keeps me in the zone in everything that I do.”

Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand

Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man

But as sure as God made black and white

What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light

Holder went on a stretch of just over 25 scoreless innings at one point this season, starting after SEC play began. Through 39 total innings in 2013, he has 70 strikeouts, nearly two Ks per inning pitched. On 29 of those strikeouts, the batter went down looking. Couldn’t even get a swing across.

“Any time in college baseball,” Cohen said, “you see a guy strike out almost two guys an inning, that’s a phenomenon. That’s incredible, especially within the Southeastern Conference, where he’s faced some very, very good hitters. What he’s doing is amazing. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this type of performance.”

Setting a single-season MSU record, Holder has 14 saves this year. The next closest person on the team has one. He’s even made long enough closing appearances to register two wins to go along with his 1.15 ERA.

You can run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Run on for a long time

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

“I’ve seen Roy Oswalt throw bullpens here in Starkville,” Cohen said, “and Roy of course at his best is one of the best in the big leagues, and watching his curveball, which at times can be 20 mph off of his fastball, it’s kind of a similar thing. That’s why he can really freeze guys. Jonathan has the ability to add and subtract with his fastball. You might see him throw an 89-mph fastball to one part of the strike zone, then throw a 93-mph fastball to another part of the strike zone. And then the same with his breaking ball. That’s what makes him special.”

Go tell that long tongue liar

Go and tell that midnight rider

Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

Underneath the hair, the goatee and the jersey, Holder has two tattoos, one on the inside of each bicep. On the right arm, “In God’s Time.” On the left, “Fear No Evil.”

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

On the mound, staring down batters, Holder fears nothing, and it shows.

Tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut you down

With a program-record four tournament wins in the regular season, the Bulldogs now head to the postseason with hopes of maintaining that success.

And there’s good news on that front, thanks to the planning of head coach Clay Homan in the offseason.

Selected to play in the Baton Rouge regional, MSU begins its postseason on Thursday with a certain level of experience already under its belt having played at LSU last semester.

“That was one of the reasons we played in LSU’s tournament this fall,” Homan said, “because we knew they were gonna host a regional and there would be a chance of us going there. It should prove helpful.”

Among all else, MSU’s coaches and players already know the hotel they’ll be staying in, the road they travel to get there and even a few good places to eat.

Not to mention the familiarity with the course itself.

“There’s a lot of local knowledge,” Homan said. “The greens are real severe, it’s probably one of the longest golf courses you’ll see anywhere, but that suits our style of play.”

A style of play, Homan said, reliant on experience and maturity.

Juniors Chad Ramey and Axel Boasson were both named All-SEC at the end of the regular season, while Joe Sakulpolphaisan got to campus this season as the No. 1-rated junior college player in the country.

With four juniors and a senior, in addition to a pair of sophomores and freshmen, Homan likes tougher courses where less experienced players might lose focus or make easy mistakes.

“It starts with Chad, but our whole team tends to do better when par is a good score. That’s the kind of golf course we wanted. We want where par is at a premium, and we feel like we have that.

“We felt like this course, because it’s big, that’s a good golf course for us. It gets tougher as you get closer,” Homan said. “You’ve got lots of humps and bumps on these greens that you’ve gotta navigate.”

Ramey, as Homan mentioned, has been a star for MSU, not just great for State, but one of the best players in the conference and in the country.

He leads the teams with a 71.88 average, earning him five Top 5 tournament finishes, due in large part to his 99 birdies and three eagles over the course of the season.

Pair Ramey with Boasson, who sports an average of 72 with a low score of 67 to go along with his team-high 110 birdies, and MSU has both a strong and mature duo leading the way, with a wealth of experience and talent behind them.

“Our guys are playing with confidence. They’re even-keeled, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. We’re fortunate to have a veteran group like we have. “ Homan said. “You don’t really have to take these guys by the hand. They know how to play and what it takes for them to play their best. We may get beat, but it won’t be because they aren’t able to handle themselves.”

When MSU arrives in Baton Rouge, the Bulldogs will try to escape the town the same way they got there: through the SEC. Conference mates Alabama, Florida, LSU and Tennessee will all be in the regional with MSU and the rest of the teams from across the country, and the top five finishers earn the right to play at Nationals in Georgia.

Fortunately for MSU, it’s already played against – and in some instances beaten – many of the top teams it will see in the regional.

Over the course of their big season, Homan thinks his Bulldogs have prepared themselves well for the postseason.

“We’ve already beaten Florida, we’ve already beaten LSU. With every win, we draw confidence,” Homan said. “Our team has been continually getting better each week. We’ve learned an awful lot this year and we’ve improved a lot this year. I don’t know how we’re gonna play, but we can handle a lot. This group has been through a lot.”

Counting football’s Gator Bowl on January 1, MSU is now up to six teams playing in the postseason in 2013 before June even hits, and it’s likely to add a seventh when baseball concludes the regular season. Not to mention the two National Champions on the track and field teams still in action.

And almost all of it is going on now, just as the weather is warming up. Gotta love it.

A quick recap of the weekend before getting into the rest of this week.

- MSU’s women’s golf team had one of the best single-day performances of any team on campus over the weekend, posting an incredible final round on Saturday to secure a third place finish in the central regional and the first-ever berth in the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Ally McDonald was a school-record 10-under par for the weekend, winning the individual championship in the regional.

The team entered Saturday tied for sixth and one shot away from postseason elimination, then the Bulldogs had the second-bets team round in school history, firing off a 7-under par day and securing a third place finish.

- In Starkville, Per Nilsson and the men’s tennis team took down Harvard in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the prestigious Round of 16 for the first time since 2001. Ranked No. 10 in the country, MSU will play Tennessee in Illinois this weekend.

- In Columbia, Missouri, home of one of the newest teams in the conference, MSU’s track and field teams had a big showing in the SEC Championships. Bulldogs had four top-five finishes on the final day of competition. MSU is off this weekend, then hits the road to North Carolina for the NCAA East Preliminary competition on May 23-25.

- Meanwhile, in Starkville, I was with the softball team late Sunday night as they earned their second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs will be in the Mobile regional hosted by South Alabama and will play Florida State in their first game at 3:30 on Friday.

- And, oh yeah, MSU and Ole Miss baseball had quite an entertaining series over the weekend. The final game of the series was a fun one, as Ole Miss built up a 6-0 lead, then MSU scored seven unanswered to win the game 7-6 in dramatic fashion. State lost the weather-altered series, but stayed in good position for hosting an NCAA Regional if things go well over the next four games. Racking up 27 hits in the final two games of the series, MSU is hoping to carry some of that momentum into Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts and the massive regular-season finale against South Carolina in Starkville this weekend. A reminder: that series begins on Thursday (Hawaiian T-shirt Night!), not Friday. Plan accordingly.

How can you keep up with everything? Carefully. And Twitter is the easiest way to follow along with the up-to-the-minute happenings. Find me @bobcarskadon for news and bad jokes, and find the individual team Twitter pages for news without bad jokes.

In the meantime, I’ll be working on stories – and have already written a couple – on everything going on the next several days.

The men’s golf team got a well-earned break over the weekend, but they begin play in the NCAA Tournament in the Baton Rouge regional on Thursday. Between them and everyone else, there are well into double-digit MSU events going on over the next five days.

I’ll try to keep up.

The Bulldogs were selected Sunday night into the Mobile regional hosted by 13-seed South Alabama.

MSU’s first game will be this Friday at 3:30 against Florida State, while South Alabama plays Mississippi Valley State to round out the regional.

I caught up with head coach Vann Stuedeman for a couple minutes (video below) immediately after the announcement, and as you’d imagine, she’s pretty excited.

A couple crazy numbers came out once the whole bracket was revealed, as it turns out MSU has already played 16 of the teams in the NCAA Tournament, plus they’ve beaten four of the national seeds this season, 25 percent of the host teams.

A head coach or team saying they aren’t afraid of anyone is usually a bit of a cliche, but it’s the truth for MSU after playing one of the toughest schedules in the country.

The Bulldogs are expected to head to Mobile on Wednesday.

Also, check out the second video below, the recorded reaction when the announcement was made.

“You think he’s a receiver or tight end?” Rick Ray asked over his plate of grapes.

“I don’t know,” Dan Mullen replied. “He’ll be one of those guys that figures it out when he gets on campus and sees what he’s comfortable with. I know this, though, he’ll be good at either one.”

“Kid can ball,” Ray said before turning to greet a fan who just walked up.

Mullen and Ray, along with Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer were at the first Mississippi stop of the Road Dawgs Tour, massive bus parked outside, a quickly-filling banquet hall on the inside.

Spending hours, days and hundreds of miles together in a leather furniture-stuffed tour bus, the three coaches and various MSU staffers had plenty of time to get to know each other.

But, as it turns out, they already do. In Starkville, MSU’s coaches and programs don’t appear to be singular forces operating without regard for each other.

At least not based on the events of the week-long tour.

“I think our athletic director Scott Stricklin has done a great job of hiring coaches who all believe in the same thing,” Mullen told a steak-stuffed crowd of Maroon and White wearers in Ellisville.

Mullen and Ray talking about one player is just a small example. They work together in recruiting all the time. Whether it’s a prospect who is interested in both basketball and football, or a football player who just likes Rick Ray and wants to meet him.

“Raise your hand if you were at that Tennessee football game last fall,” Schaefer asked of the crowd. “That was an absolutely electric atmosphere,” he continued with a knowing nod. “We had two kids at that game. We got both of ‘em. If you can’t get a kid from that kind of atmosphere, you just can’t recruit.”

Following his time at the podium, Schaefer introduced Ray. He talked about all he went through in his first season, how you could see what a good coach he is, how proud MSU fans should be of Ray.

After thanking Schaefer for the kind words, it turned out, as Ray shared, Schaefer and Mullen weren’t the only ones with recruits in town for the Tennessee game. Ray had guys of his own on campus over the weekend.

“You couldn’t ask for a better atmosphere,” he said.

Ellisville, Miss., 11:30 a.m., Tuesday

Back on the bus, Mullen sat near the driver on his makeshift desk, watching film of spring practices, taking notes on what he saw. On the couch opposite Mullen, Schaefer was on the phone with assistants, organizers and even a florist, never a chance for complete rest. In the back alongside several other, Ray had his phone, iPad and a multitude of chargers and cords set up, making calls, watching highlights and looking up stats of recruits.

It does always seem to come back to recruiting somehow.

Mullen acknowledged that fact when congratulating Ray for his win at The Hump over Ole Miss. As big a game as it was for the basketball program, Mullen told the crowd in Brookhaven after a plate of mashed potatoes and BBQ, Ray still cared about the big picture for not only his team, but the athletic department as a whole when he went around to student groups the week before in an effort to drum up support.

Just as football helps Ray and Schaefer, basketball helps Mullen.

“We had a lot of recruits in town for that game,” Mullen said. “He understands how important those games are for us. And obviously I know how important it is to him.”

John Cohen and his baseball team play Ole Miss this weekend, and while he can’t be on the bus, the coach-to-coach helping hands extend from the diamond, as well.

When Mullen’s quarterback signee Cord Sandberg visited campus, the dual-sport star spent extensive time with Cohen in the baseball office, too. Mullen and Cohen worked together.

In fact, Mullen said when asked about Sandberg, he’s gone to one of the best-known Bulldogs around for advice.

“I was talking to Buck Showalter about him the other day,” Mullen said.

Wanting to talk a little baseball, and despite being a lifelong Red Sox fan, Mullen went to the Orioles manager and former Bulldog for some MLB advice and guidance.

Biloxi, Miss., 7:30 p.m., Tuesday

At the Yacht Club on the third stop of the day, Ray reviewed his first season at the helm for MSU.

Going over the pros and cons, one thing stood out to him: assist-to-turnover ratio.

“It’s just like football,” Ray said. “Coach Mullen will tell you, you can’t give the ball to the other team.”

Wednesday

On the long road from Brookhaven to Greenville, three days into the Road Dawgs Tour, Mullen was caught in his seemingly-lifelong hobby: multi-tasking. Whether on the phone for a radio interview, catching the news on the nearby big screen, chatting with others on the bus or even watching a Premier League soccer match, the head coach had a constant stream of spring practice highlights going on his laptop.

This time, the distraction was the latest Spiderman movie.

“This is a treat for me,” Mullen said. “I never get to watch this stuff at home. My wife doesn’t like superhero movies.”

A visit from media relations man Joe Galbraith indicated it was time for another radio interview on the phone and sadly meant Mullen had to turn away from Spiderman.

“Thanks for having me on guys,” Mullen said a few minutes later before setting the phone down and turning his attention back to the TV. “Oh. I guess she found out he’s Spiderman now, huh?”

Greenville, Miss., 6:30 p.m., Wednesday

Once in Greenville, Ray, who spent the ride checking the happy birthday tweets he was getting, calling assistants and talking to his two-year-old son on the iPad, told reporters he was excited for superhero movies, too.

“I really need to see Iron Man 3,” he said. “And I’m hoping the new Superman can actually be good.”

Mullen and Ray, recruiters, occasional movie watchers, and as Ray tells it, Twitter friends.

“Let me tell y’all something about Dan Mullen,” Ray told the crowd. “He’s an uplifting guy. If you ever need a word of encouragement, talk to Coach Mullen.

“We were talking one day and he said, ‘Coach Ray, I see you tweet a lot.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I really enjoy it.’

“Then I puffed my chest out a little bit,” Ray said. “I told him, ‘I’ve got 11,000 followers.’”

“Oh, that’s pretty good, man,” Mullen responded.

“How many do you have?” Ray asked.

“About 45,000,” Mullen replied.

“That puffed out chest caved in immediately,” Ray said as he and the crowd laughed.

The point of the Road Dawgs Tour, Stricklin has said, is to thank the fans across the state, show appreciation for what they do, make an attempt at re-paying them for their support and eat a few good meals along the way.

The thanks were accepted, everything from footballs to sonogram pictures were signed and the hands of men and women, children, adults and even pro wrestlers were shaken.

But, outside of its primary objective, the unintentional result of the tour is the building of camaraderie among coaches and staff, the bonds of friendship built and strengthened during countless hours on the road together and the show of unity among a staff made up of coaches and administrators of a single mind and goal.

“It’s such a special time to be a Mississippi State Bulldog,” Mullen said.

The result? A 3-0 weekend record for the Bulldogs, sweeping Alabama at Dudy Noble Field.

Two come-from-behind, extra-inning, walk-off wins and a foiled Tide comeback attempt made for both an interesting and revealing weekend for MSU.

 “When you look at games like this,” head coach John Cohen said, “it’s that character, that work ethic and that belief in yourself that gets you through those games. This is what we expect of our kids, especially the older ones who have been through that before.”

After being swept on the road at Vanderbilt last week, Cohen’s club was badly in need of wins to calm the waters and maintain hopes of hosting an NCAA regional.

The good news, he said, is he had the right guys in the dugout already.

“We got swept last weekend,” junior outfielder C.T. Bradford said. “Monday and Tuesday practice, you had no idea we even got swept. That’s the way our guys are.”

The key, according to Bradford and Cohen, is confidence and maturity.

Maturity of sorts, anyway.

In the 11^th inning of game three on Sunday, Cohen’s eyes were on Hunter Renfroe at the plate. Behind him, senior pitcher Luis Pollorena, wearing a sombrero on Cinco de Mayo, led a circular line dance around the dugout.

“That’s the walk-off walk,” Bradford said with a laugh. “That’s the way our team is. We stay loose. We don’t get too fired up and that’s a good thing. We stay calm and we deliver.”

“They’re just really mentally tough kids,” Cohen said. “They work at it every single day. They get after it. It’s fun to be a part of.”

Cohen said he’d love to take credit for it, but if he’s honest with himself, thinks the type of person a player will be is already “set in stone” when they get to campus.

That’s why, he says, he’s lucky to have such a good group.

And at this point in the season, he leans on both the confidence and maturity of his players.

Still tied at 6 in that 11^th inning on Sunday, Cohen went to talk strategy with Bradford before he got to the plate.

Cohen did what coaches do. He gave instructions.

Then, Bradford did what veterans do.

“He said, ‘Coach, I’m on this guy. I’m gonna hit the ball hard. I’m seeing this really well,’” Cohen said.

With two men on base and one out, Bradford did exactly that. He hit the ball hard and Renfroe sped his way from second to home, scoring the winning run and securing the series sweep for MSU.

“That’s what you want from your experienced guys,” Cohen said after the game.

The walk-off walk did its job.

“Small picture, we needed it for our confidence,” sophomore closer Jonathan Holder said. “During practice this week, we practiced like nothing happened last weekend. That’s what good teams do. They come out and they get their work done and I think it paid off.

“There’s gonna be games in the future we’re gonna have to come back and win and that gets us prepared for it.”

And the future is certainly on MSU’s mind. The Diamond Dawgs head to Oxford this weekend for a big SEC West series against Ole Miss, then host South Carolina on the final weekend, winners of two of the last three College World Series, as Cohen pointed out.

The confidence, as well as the wins, is coming at the right time for MSU.

“It’s a springboard,” Cohen said. “I really believe, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, I think they can get on a roll and I think they can do some things in the postseason. But we’re not there yet and we still have a lot going on in the regular season.”

Stricklin and Bjork were the featured speakers Tuesday night for a Boy Scouts of America event on MSU’s campus, both discussing topics of leadership, neither frazzled by the other’s presence.

Stricklin, left, and Bjork, right, at the Boy Scouts of America event

As it turns out, the pair’s history is far more interesting than the mere fact they spoke together.

When Bjork was still the Athletic Director at Western Kentucky, he, Stricklin and Greg Byrne – former MSU and current Arizona Athletic Director – were in a club or sorts with other young A.D.s around the country.

Currently, Bjork is the youngest Athletic Director in the SEC. Before that? It was Stricklin. Before him? Yep, it was Byrne.

Call it a support group, exclusive club or just a few friends helping each other out, those who were members of the fraternity used each other for support, ideas and direction.

Long before Stricklin and Bjork would stand on opposite sides of the field during the Egg Bowl, they were friends. They bounced ideas off each other, joked together and never imagined they’d be fighting each other for the support of those in the Magnolia State.

Then, the Ole Miss job opened up.

“Two days before my first visit to Oxford, I called Scott and asked, ‘What’s it like being an SEC Athletic Director?’” Bjork told the audience Tuesday night.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, Ross must be really desperate to be in the SEC,’” Stricklin joked.

“You can perform at this level,” Stricklin told Bjork before his visit.

Each now knows one of their most important tasks is beating the other not just on the field of play but in the court of public support and opinion.

The dynamic, certainly, has changed from when the pair were young A.D.s leaning on each other for support. But as the two easily ribbed each other and spoke together Tuesday, the term enemies would clearly be far too strong.

“We want to beat each other when we play,” Bjork said, “but we know we can shake hands and be friends after.”

However, as each spoke, the message was not about winning. Leadership and success, they say, is not just about having more wins than losses.

The best example of leadership, Stricklin said, is a 300-pound man.

“[Kentucky athletic director] Mitch Barnhart once said, ‘Leadership is not about getting where you want to be. It’s about getting others where they want to be,’” Stricklin said. “Offensive linemen are a great example. Most of them are faceless and nameless. There’s not a lot of glory there, but you’re still leading. You’re getting others where they want to be.”

“I look at things as a thermostat,” Bjork said. “Are we controlling the temperature or taking it? Attitude and effort are all we can control. I can’t control a 21-year-old pitcher on the mound. But I can make sure our department, coaches and players have the best attitude and put forth full effort.”

“Our core mission is to promote the success and well-being of our student-athletes,” Stricklin said. “In the SEC, it’s very easy lose to track of how important winning is. Sometimes it’s too important.”

Of course, the preferred endgame is to have prosperous student-athletes who then go out and win.

Both Stricklin and Bjork, when asked in a question-and-answer session, described the type of players and coaches they like to have around.

“I like people to have a little juice to them,” Stricklin said. “Because of our intensity and competitiveness, I want the other team to be ready for the game to be over with as soon as it starts.”

“Attitude, toughness, discipline,” Bjork said, “none of the above take talent. Everybody is good in the SEC. It’s not the talent factors that can provide a winning advantage in this league.”

The similarities between the two – youth, energy, creativity and a passion for people – are not hard to spot when they’re put in a room together. Nor is it difficult to understand the friendship the pair formed before becoming rivals in the state of Mississippi.

When each was introduced Tuesday night, a list of accomplishments was shared by Bill Kibler, the emcee of the event and the vice president of student affairs at MSU.

“I’m surprised you mentioned the Egg Bowl,” Bjork said.

“Yeah, I am too, Bill,” Stricklin said meaningfully as he turned his eyes to Kibler.

The jokes come easy. They’re friends destined to try and beat the other, but friends nonetheless.

After each answering a question on the soon-to-be-announced SEC Network, moderator Sid Salter looked at the pair and said,

“To your credit, those were the best non-answers I’ve ever heard.”

Stricklin and Bjork just laughed and high-fived each other.