With title, Lemonis makes good on ex-Miss State star prediction
OMAHA, Neb. — It was minutes after Mississippi State was eliminated from the 2019 College World Series when Jake Mangum turned to first-year coach Chris Lemonis at the postgame news conference and made a prediction.
“You’re going to bring the first national championship to this baseball program,” Mangum said. “You are. And it’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see it.”
Mangum didn’t get to see it in real time — he was playing center field and batting leadoff for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday night — but his words proved prophetic.
The Bulldogs (50-18) won their school’s first national championship in a team sport, and Lemonis and his charges took it back to Starkville in his second full season as head coach. The 2020 season ended after 16 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The @RumblePoniesBB just won a ball game! What did me and @Colegordon12 miss???” Mangum tweeted with smiley face emojis and a reference to MSU and current teammate Cole Gordon.
Mangum, the SEC alltime hits leader, followed with this: “Mississippi State University. National Champions.”
The Bulldogs were reeling in 2018 when Andy Cannizaro was forced out three games into his second season for what he called “poor decisions.“Assistant Gary Henderson took over, and the Bulldogs went on a surprise postseason run that ended with what would be the first of three straight appearances at the CWS.
Lemonis was hired the next month after leading Indiana to the NCAA Tournament in three of his four years. He bonded quickly with his new players and has created a laid-back yet competitive atmosphere.
“Coach Lem is unbelievable,” SEC player of the year Tanner Allen said. “He’s a player’s coach. I tell people all the time, that guy is somebody you want to play for. He knows when to be serious and he knows when to be loose. To be honest with you, when we’re loose and he’s loose, it just clicks.”
Like Mangum, who twice turned down chances to go pro to pursue a national title, Allen and fellow outfielder Rowdey Jordan decided together to come back for one more run.
“I didn’t want to do it with anybody else, let’s put it like that,” Allen said. “I didn’t just come back to make the playoffs or make a super regional, I wanted to come back to win a national championship. I believed it and we all believed it.”
The Bulldogs, like all championship teams, played their best at the end. They were, after all, swept by Arkansas and lost a series to Missouri, both at home, then went two-andout at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The rallied by sweeping through their regional and took a three-game super regional against Notre Dame before winning three one-run games to reach the CWS finals.
They bounced back from a devastating first inning in an 8-2 loss to Vanderbilt in the opener of the finals, dominating the Commodores with wins of 13-2 and 9-0 in Games 2 and 3.