2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 22, 2021

Landon Sims

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Mississippi State - 6, Virginia - 5

Q. You ran out there right after that home run. Saw you sprint down to the bullpen. Looks like they were trying to bridge that eighth inning to get to you in the ninth. How did you feel coming off that 50-plus pitch outing you had a couple days ago and how did you feel like you handled that tonight four-out save?

LANDON SIMS: It started the other night, as soon as the game ended, I know I had to do some extra stuff because we gotta do everything we can to win every single game here. I felt good. Coach Lem and Coach Fox are good not pushing me past any limits that I don't want to push past. I felt good. I wanted to get the last three outs, and I happened to get the last four outs right there.

Q. We all know how competitive you are. I know you would pitch every inning of every ball game if you could. What did it mean to see the guys go out there in the bullpen and Parker and everybody -- seemed like everybody that went out there did a great job, did a job to get it to you. It's a guy that had to carry a lot of the heavy weight. What did it mean to see those guys get it going?

LANDON SIMS: It's awesome. Those guys -- I mean, they're dudes. Every single guy out there. They're awesome. Preston coming in right after Christian. And then Chase coming in first and third with one out and getting that double play. That was huge. And then Cam Tullar coming in there, getting those two outs, first and third, one out. And Parker Stinnett looked good and Cade looked good. They all looked good. It's fun to watch right there. I don't think they get enough credit for how good they are.

It was really good for them to go out there and really show up tonight.

Q. You said you had to do some extra stuff to be sure you'd be ready for tonight. What extra stuff did you have to do and when were you sure you would be ready for tonight?

LANDON SIMS: Just some extra recovery stuff. Nothing too big. Having to come on short rest. It's not easy, but with our support staff, our trainers, our strength coach, they're the best in the business. Just getting with them and doing everything I can to be ready for today.

I knew in the back of my head that with my competitiveness that I was going to want to get the last three outs regardless of how I felt.

Q. As the comeback starts happening, you feel an opportunity is going to happen. But what's that moment like when you complete the comeback? You look around there at your defense, and everybody has played a part -- and as Coach mentioned, it was a complete team game -- what was that moment like when you know you're 2-0 in Omaha?

LANDON SIMS: It's a great feeling. We didn't come here to win two games. We came here to win five games. Or more, if anything else happens. But it was really good to see everybody go out there and play really, really well tonight.

You know the guys out of the pen -- Hatch, Leggett, all those guys -- that was the biggest team win we've had all year. And, you know, that's really important late in the year. Some people can hang their heads if they're not playing too much. But I think everybody in our dugout, when the opportunity presents itself, they're going to go out there and give it their all and that's really important to be a championship team.