60% off Annual VIP Pass first year

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STARKVILLE -- It very easily could have been their last college game. Senior Diamond Dogs made sure it wasn’t.

A leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth provided both the winning run for Mississippi State and a finish to Sunday’s game-seven that went beyond merely dramatic. The shot over centerfield by DH Ty Martin was only the last in a series of classic clutch plays by Bulldog seniors that let them leave Dudy Noble Field as winners.

“there was no way we were going to lose that second game,” senior 2B Daron Wright said. “You have to tip your cap to Notre Dame, they kept fightin and fighting. But we didn’t want to lose on our home turf and we didn’t let it happen.”

“Today was a team day,” Martin said. “We lost together the first game to a great team, and we came back the second game to win as a team.”

Martin earned Tournament Most Valuable Player for his game-clinching bomb. But the honor could just as easily have been given collectively to the seven seniors who willed their team to victory.

“It’s taken my four years here to learn that it’s the heart and belief that you can go out there and win every game,” said 3B Travis Chapman, himself a MVP candidate after a three-hit, three-RBI night with the two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth that should have decided the game.

But no Bulldog displayed more heart than Kevin Donovan. Less than two days after throwing a 152-pitch, nine-inning complete game the senior southpaw offered his tired arm in the bottom of the eighth. With the game tied 7-7, just out, the bases loaded and Notre Dame ready to take the first lead of the night, State gave him the ball.

“It brought back a lot of memories,” said Donovan, who came out of the bullpen in an emergency role for the first time this year. But he and his defense were sure Donovan remembered how to put out a fire.

“There was nobody I’d rather see out there,” Chapman said. Probably no Dog could have done what Donovan did. The Irish had knotted the game on #9 hitter Andrew Busby’s RBI single off Steven Dowe, who walked pinch-hitter Ken Meyer to load the bases.

Donovan quickly threw a strike by scat-batter Steve Stanley that got the home crowd roaring. Then Donovan offered a curveball Stanley topped so hard the ball almost bounced back into C Ryan McGrath’s glove for an easy force.

Roars turned to thunder as Alec Porzel grounded the 0-1 fastball-away right to SS Matthew Maniscalco for the force preserving the score. “You saw the Bulldog in Kevin,” Coach Pat McMahon said.

The dramatics were only getting good and going. Notre Dame changed pitchers replacing Scott Cavey with closer John Corbin. Corbin had thrown 94 pitches Saturday night/Sunday morning in outlasting Tulane. But “We were going to win or lose with John Corbin,” Coach Paul Mainieri said. “He gave it everything he had.”

It was almost enough with two quick outs before RF Phillip Willingham lofted a fly to deep center Stanley lost in the lights for a double. Willingham rounded second too far and had to scramble back.

That gave Chapman his chance when on 2-0 Corbin threw a hard slider. “I was looking for a pitch to hit hard up the middle. “I saw it right there and my eyes kind of lit up.” So did the scoreboard as the ball easily cleared centerfield for a 9-7 lead.

And there were still more thrills to come.

Donovan blew a pair of 2-2 strikes past swinging batters, gave up a double, and had two strikes on pinch hitter Matt Strickroth. “I tried to hump up and get a strikeout.” Instead the pitch was too far in and Strickroth was plunked in the back.

It gave O’Toole a chance to keep the game going. He lofted a pop-up behind the four-hole that Maniscalco called for all the way.

But the ball went off his glove. Since both baserunners were going hard they scored easily to tie the game. Yet Stavisky, trying to get into scoring position, was caught short of second as 1B Jon Knott cut the throw and hit Wright. “Daron and Jon had great presence of mind to get an out and out of the inning,” McMahon said.

Despite losing a lead the Bulldogs had not lost the game or poise. “It didn’t really deflate us,” Chapman said. “Sure you’d rather not have to hit in the ninth inning but we were confident we could get a baserunner on and get a run to win.”

State got both at the same time. Martin watched two balls before Corbin offered what looked like a BP fastball. “In that situation I was looking for something to crush,” Martin said. “I was thinking this is where hitters look for one pitch in one spot to drive. I hit it on the good part of the bat.”

From the instant of contact it was clear was going out, not far from where Chapman’s shot had cleared. Irish fielders knelt in shock while the Bulldogs swarmed home plate. “I saw the team waiting and Coach Mac holding them back to make sure I touched the plate,” Martin said. “I’d never done anything like that in baseball. It was sweet.”

And a sweet ending to a superbly contested battle for survival by two teams that refused to lose. Offense dominated the last contest of the tournament as both coaches used whatever arms still available. State had 17 hits, Notre Dame 15 more, and both teams five extra-base hits. Only the sixth inning did not see a run scored.

The Bulldogs came out hitting as CF Shane Kelly ripped the first pitch from Irish starter J.P. Gagne the other way for a double. Chapman drove him home with a single that had Notre Dame heading for the bullpen early.

McMahon and Coach Jim Case had planned on Jeff Hunter starting a game seven and the junior did his job. “I wasn’t prepared to start at all, I was hoping we’d win the first game!” Hunter said. His line—ten hits, six runs, three strikeouts—didn’t look good but Hunter’s 6.2 innings were beautiful to his coaches. “Jeff got the game going under control,” McMahon said. “He pitched his heart out and got us where we needed to utilize the bullpen.”

In the seventh Notre Dame scored twice. That brought in Adam Larson to strand a pair and set the stage for an electrifying eighth and ninth innings. Donovan, though left off the All Tournament Team, got his second win of the weekend.

“I can tell you it’s the greatest ball game I’ve ever been involved with,” Mainieri said. Over 8,000 participants and fans who stayed for the evening battle agreed. “It definitely ranks up there with 1997,” Chapman said. “In ’97 we were going straight to Omaha. This year we have more baseball to play. But in all our eyes it was up there.”

“You can’t go out any better than we did,” Kelly said. “It was a littler closer than we wanted, but the closer you make it the better it feels to come out on top.”

60% off Annual VIP Pass first year

60% off Annual VIP Pass first year

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