2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 28, 2021

Tanner Allen

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Vanderbilt - 8, Mississippi State - 2

Q. I know it's "never get too high, never get too low" moment for you, but did you get the ball game you expected once you got through the first? Were there any surprises once you got through that? And can you build on that for tomorrow?

TANNER ALLEN: Of course, man, I think we played a great game. We played a great eight innings. Vanderbilt is a great team. You can't give them freebies. They'll make you pay. We witnessed that firsthand first inning, man.

Q. The bullpen of course was great tonight for you guys. I was asking Coach Lemonis about this, but what's that say about this team that you can bring guys in like that they're totally locked in despite the score, despite the fact that things went off the rails a little bit, you guys were completely locked in. Some of those guys hadn't pitched in a while, but just complete investment; is that kind of a snapshot of what this team is?

TANNER ALLEN: Oh, of course. They did a great job. They kept us in the game. Every inning they were getting 1, 2, 3s as quick as they could. They scored late, one, but the bullpen did a great job. They gave us a chance to come back, but when you give probably a top five pick a lead like that in the first inning, he can pin his ears back and do his thing. And that's what he did. Still had some good at-bats against him but that guy's here for a reason. He'll get drafted where he's going to get drafted for a reason. So hats off to him.

Q. Did you say anything to your teammates after that first inning?

TANNER ALLEN: The same message. Just keep playing. I know we just took a haymaker, in the boxing world. But we just kept playing. I felt like we played really good, 2 through 9, and we're going to bring that same mentality and the same attitude to the field tomorrow and leave it all on the field and leave it in God's hands.

Q. When you have an inning like that, maybe [inaudible] doesn't have it, how do you keep the team from getting negative? How do you keep the team from saying it's just not our day, and also to skip the negativity in the dugout, how do you keep that out?

TANNER ALLEN: You tell your guys, man, we came this far for a reason. And that's because we play together. We pick each other up. Obviously C-Mac didn't have his great stuff tonight. That's part of the game.

As a teammate, watching him the way he worked in the offseason and the fall and the spring training, you can't do nothing but just slap him on the butt and pick him up and encourage him, because he'll get the ball again. The sun's going to come up again for him.

I know he's probably catching a lot of flack on social media right now, but it's 99.9% of those people have never played in a national championship game and never pitched in front of even maybe 500 people.

So he's a great player. He'll be back for us. And you know what, he's a good friend of mine. So as a good friend of mine, I really do feel bad for him. I do. But I know what kind of competitor he is and he'll pick himself up and he'll be fine ready to go his next start.