Bulldogs’ freshman star goes bananas
Jordan Westburg hit a grand slam, doubled and drove in seven runs and Mississippi State went on to beat North Carolina 12-2 in the College World Series on Tuesday in Omaha.
The Bulldogs (39-27) continued their surprise postseason run and, with two wins at the CWS, are off until Friday. They need one more to advance to the bestof-three finals.
Westburg, the freshman who two weeks ago came up with the “Rally Banana” that’s become the Bulldogs’ good-luck charm in the NCAA tournament, connected on an Austin Bergner breaking pitch. The ball landed in the seats above the left-field bullpen for a 4-1 lead in the second inning.
Bergner (7-3) then retired 16 batters in a row until the start of the eighth inning, when the Bulldogs converted six hits, a walk, a hit batter and two errors into eight runs.
Carolina’s Kyle Datres doubled leading off the game against Konnor Pilkington (3-6) and came home on a sacrifice fly. The Tar Heels (44-19) didn’t score again until the seventh.
Two singles and an error loaded the bases for Westburg. Bergner, who gave up his third home run in eight CWS innings, left a 1-2 breaking pitch up, and Westburg crushed it.
Westburg came up with the Bulldogs’ alternate mascot during a regional game against Oklahoma on June 3. The Bulldogs were struggling when he went into the tunnel and grabbed a banana. Instead of eating it, he put it on his head in hopes of turning the Bulldogs’ luck. Mississippi State won, Westburg and his banana got some TV time, and the meme took off.
Florida 6, Texas 1: Jackson Kowar struck out a career-high 13 in 62⁄3 innings as defending national champion Florida eliminated Texas from the College World Series. Kowar held the Longhorns scoreless on five hits. He mixed his changeup with a fastball still touching the mid-90s deep into his season-high, 121-pitch afternoon.
Game postponed: The College World Series game between Arkansas and Texas Tech was postponed because of the threat of rain in the Omaha area Tuesday night.
The Razorbacks and Red Raiders will play their Bracket 2 winners’ game on Wednesday at 9 a.m. The Bracket 1 losers’ game between North Carolina and Oregon State is at 4 p.m.