Mississippi State walks off Texas, advances to College World Series Finals vs. Vanderbilt

The Bulldogs will face the Commodores to compete for a national title on Monday.

This wasn't anything like Friday night -- in fact, the two games couldn't have been much more different.

Mississippi State played a clean and steady game against the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorns on Saturday evening, ending off the night with a 4-3 victory thanks to Tanner Leggett's walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The game-winning hit was set up by pinch runner Brayland Skinner, who replaced Kellum Clark (hit by pitch with two strikes), stole second base to get into scoring position.

This one came down to the wire in a different way than what we've seen in games MSU has played like the matchup against Virginia, when the team overcame a four-run deficit in the eighth inning to get the win.

The 8-5 victory that Texas recorded over MSU just the previous night -- and the way it did it -- left plenty of reason to believe this might end up being a high scoring affair in which both teams would really have to get the bats going to get the win.

Instead, this one stayed close for the most part. Texas came out swinging at the top of the second inning with two runs when Cam Williams homered to right field, scoring Ivan Melendez. That made it 2-0 before the Bulldogs scored their first run of the game at the bottom of the third inning when a single up the middle from Tanner Allen scored Kellum Clark.

The Bulldogs trailed the Longhorns until the sixth inning, when they tied it up at 3-3. Texas brought pitcher Cole Quintanilla to the mound after that, shutting things down offensively for Mississippi State.

It looked like an inning that could easily have not panned out in the Bulldogs' favor, with Brad Cumbest grounding out to third, Williams throwing the lead runner out at the plate, Kellum Clark struck out looking, and Josh Hatcher struck out swinging before Leggett took care of business.

After having the odds stacked against them many times in 2021, the Bulldogs have shown the country that they're a team that just doesn't die -- and they can continue to prove that as they face the Vanderbilt Commodores in the finals.

The two teams will face each other Monday for the first contest of a three-game championship series for the ultimate title in college baseball.