2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 25, 2021

Tanner Allen

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Texas - 8, Mississippi State - 5

Q. Just thoughts on everything tonight?

TANNER ALLEN: They beat us. We play tomorrow. That's all I've got. What else do you want us to do?

Q. You all had a couple of elimination type games back in the SEC Tournament and now, against Notre Dame. Is there anything you can draw on those experiences or is this a whole different ball game at this point?

TANNER ALLEN: Of course you learn from those experiences. It's going to be a big game tomorrow night. Everybody knows it. We know it. We're confident with the guy we're going throw tomorrow. We'll throw Bednar tomorrow. We're just going to play defense behind him and put some runs on the board.

Q. What do you kind of think about -- I don't know if you heard the NC State news, but they're going to forfeit because of COVID-19. What do you think about that? And, yeah, in this weird unprecedented time how devastating do you think that is for them?

TANNER ALLEN: I feel really bad for them. I wish I could do something for them and help them. But all I can do is focus on Texas. And so that's what I'm going to do.

Q. We've asked you these kind of things before. But you guys have taken punches at different points throughout the year. And at this point I'm going to guess you know it kind of doesn't really rattle you guys, as many times you've had to bounce back. But talk about going to war, I guess, with these guys again, everything on the line tomorrow night. But I'm going to guess that you're pretty confident in the mentality you guys will take into the game tomorrow?

TANNER ALLEN: Of course. It's a big game. For us it's a big game. Like I said, we've just got to show up and control what we can control, which is preparation for that game and don't let the moments get too big and play a full nine innings. If they hit us in the mouth early, we've just got to keep playing. I feel if we do that, we'll be fine.

Q. What are you guys doing during that delay? How does it affect you mentally, if at all?

TANNER ALLEN: We were just hanging in the locker room, kind of making small talk, telling stories, talking. A lot of people like to listen to music, hunting, fishing stories. Just relax. Obviously we still, in the back of our mind, know what's at stake and know we've got to come out and play the rest of the game. And I felt good. The ninth inning, we didn't win the ball game but we put pressure on them. And we don't go down easy.

So I liked that about our team tonight. We came out in the ninth and really gave a great effort to try to get back in that ball game and possibly tie it, if not even win it. So I was pleased with it.