2021 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 30, 2021

Chris Lemonis

Mississippi State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Mississippi State - 9, Vanderbilt - 0

COACH LEMONIS: What an awesome night. Our kids played as free as you could be on the biggest stage, from the pitching to the defense, to the grind of having to be one of the best pitchers in college baseball history and the defending champions.

So proud of them. And it's so awesome to bring back the trophy to Starkville. It's our community and how much they love their baseball, it's pretty special.

And we just have a great administration here. John Cohen, our AD, he's a big part of this, and everything that he does and everything that he's done in the past.

I want to always reach out to Coach Polk because Coach Polk is the one who built this and started it. We run out there and play in front of the big crowds, but Polk was a big reason why, and our former players, too.

This is a lot of years in the making, and a lot of fun. And I know our fans will enjoy this.

Q. From the very moment you came to Mississippi State and talked to the press, talk to the fans, you weren't shying away from that national championship goal that you wanted. Now that that's been realized, what's that mean to you and to this team that's fought for that the last three years you've been here?

COACH LEMONIS: You know, you lose the first game of the series, and you're sitting there, and you know how bad our community, our school, our program wants this trophy.

And we talked about it, I think it was Saturday night we were having to play Texas, how it wouldn't be easy. Just hasn't been easy. When you're going to do something legendary for the first time, it was going to have to be tough.

And it's pretty surreal right now. But the reason we are champions is we just have a really tough, resilient group. And it's been built over time. It's the accumulation of the last three years.

And it's just been a lot of fun.

Q. This team probably went through more than any other team would have had to with the COVID restrictions and everything you guys had to go through this year. Just for the team to make it this far and to get the first championship in this season, how special does that feel?

COACH LEMONIS: Yeah, it's awesome. It's been a long year. It's just been a long year with COVID. It's been a long year with restrictions. It's just been really tough. And to see our guys come out the back side of this as champions is very special.

Q. Couple years ago we sat in a room in this building, and Jake Mangum said that you would bring Mississippi State its first ever national championship. Looking back on that moment now, and maybe the disappointment then, what does that mean to you knowing that you have fulfilled that expectation?

COACH LEMONIS: It's pretty awesome. I know you know the feeling. All our fans know the feeling. It's like we've been waiting for it. I've only been here three years, but it's just a special place. And, I mean, I haven't even been able to walk down the street for the last four days. I have to stay in the room because our fans have taken over the city.

And the expectations and all the great players for years after years that have played here, to bring home the trophy is just awesome.

I know it's simple words. But -- and Jake Mangum, he's a big part of this. Almost every player who put on the maroon and white, they have a piece of this trophy tonight because it's been built over years.

Like I said earlier, Coach Polk built this many years ago, and fortunately we're able to capitalize on it tonight.

Q. You mentioned all those great players that got you to this point. What can you say about Will Bednar and his legacy here at Mississippi State after a night like tonight?

COACH LEMONIS: Pretty amazing. He had to get out of the first, but he had really good stuff. We weren't sure. We were just trying to feel him out, and he got stronger and stronger, and the innings got shorter and shorter in the middle of the game.

He's coming in, and he is ready to go. And, I mean, just the opening game against Texas, just every time he's taken the ball here in the postseason, he's just been a champ. And you need somebody to get hot for you in the postseason. And we had that with Will tonight.

I'm looking forward to watching him in the future in the Big League clubhouse and stadium. I'm looking forward to this week's draft and watch where he goes.

Q. There's a lot of your fans. Forgive me if it's loud out here. There's a lot of fans taking pictures outside of here. Everyone is just so happy. But for you specifically, what makes you the most emotional when thinking about this year's journey with this group?

COACH LEMONIS: Ooh, man. It's been tough. It's been a tough personal year for me. I lost my mom in the fall. My dad's been sick all spring. He's been in the hospital for two weeks.

So for me the journey has been trying to hold all that together as these guys have played and done -- our group is so resilient and so tough and so -- the short-term memory, it hurts us in the classroom, but on the baseball field it's good for us, because they just forget about the bat and keep on playing.

And it's just, you know, we can go back to Arkansas weekend or Missouri weekend or the SEC tourney, and you look up, and you're just devastated. And you know how much it means to our fans.

We know that. And it means as much or more to us in the program, but to come out on the back side with a trophy in hand is -- it's surreal at this point.

Q. How hard was it to get Will out of the game? It seemed like he wanted to stay in there forever, for forever pretty much?

COACH LEMONIS: He was going to run back out there in the seventh. But the inning, the rest of the inning we had the big inning and it just got too long. We felt he waited too long. I think he realized that too.

We had a fresh Landon Sims with a nine-run lead and nine outs to go. So making the smart move there is probably the smart thing to do.

He was okay at that point. I felt like I was going to have to rip it out of his hand at some point. But when the game got expanded and we had that long inning, it was the right thing to do.

Q. You've already mentioned how free the team played tonight. Yes, this is a very resilient group. They never take one game to the next game. But with all that's at stake, how do you credit the team, and maybe even your staff as well, for being so free when all the pressure in the world should be on them?

COACH LEMONIS: First of all, I have a tremendous staff, and they have their hands on the players every day just in terms of motivating and everything else.

But it's almost crazy in a way that they just -- they're always super loose. They're always joking. They're always laughing. They're always picking on each other.

And it was like that today in BP. They're bouncing around the cage and trying to hit off of Jacks and laughing. And I think that's one thing that keeps us playing it the way we do. And even Will Bednar, he came off in the fourth and made a PFP play, and I've been giving him a hard time because he missed one up in the Regionals, and he came and sprinted right off the field, came to me, was right in my face, giving me a hard time.

They're just something in the moment. I don't know if it's because we're trained that way because we play in big moments so much. But tonight just didn't bother them.

No night has bothered them. They just come out and they enjoy playing the game in the biggest moments.

Q. You mentioned remembering. These seniors, this group, how are you going to remember them? And how should these fans remember this group from like 15, 20 years from now?

COACH LEMONIS: Gritty. Resilient. I mean, our journey is what I remember. You remember the players. I'm sitting there today in my hotel room and I'm writing Tanner Allen's name down and Jordi and Will Bednar, it was hard. I got emotional in our team meeting because I've enjoyed coaching them so much, enjoyed being on the journey with them.

You enjoy it. This team won't be together on the field together. I'm just glad they'll finish as legends.

When you go to Starkville, Mississippi, and you're around 20 years from now, they'll be remembered by everybody.

Q. The defense this year was kind of up and down, had some struggles early in the season. But you all were never better than this week and the last couple of weeks of the College World Series, no errors, and today some huge plays behind Will. Just how special did you feel like that group was this week to get you to this point and to ultimately help you get to the national championship?

COACH LEMONIS: Yeah, the pressure plays all week, last week, really the whole postseason. I don't know how many errors we've made in the postseason. I think my pitchers kicked a couple around, but defenders have been awesome, Skinner made a great play in the gap today.

They've been great. They're talented. We struggled a little bit. We had to figure our way out a little early. Kamren James had to work on some things, but he played unbelievable and played with such confidence.

Lane Forsythe is one of the best shortstops in the country. It is what it is in terms of daily just picking the ball. And Scotty Dubrule, he's a high-level defender too. You have some guys that have real talent, but they played at a really high level this week.

Q. Was there ever a point where you let yourself gaze up at the scoreboard and savor the moment during the game today?

COACH LEMONIS: With two outs in the ninth, I turned and, Cheese, one of my coaches, was sitting right beside me. We both lost parents in the last year, and I turned to him and I said: Man, I hope they have a good seat tonight.

And that was kind of my moment. The lead was so big we were able to relax a little bit.

But that's my only time during the game. I had to keep shaking my head, my old coach at the Citadel used to always tell me to shake your head in the big games and get the bad thoughts out, because you start thinking about celebrating or dog piling, and then you get beat.

I tried to stay pretty focused all night long, but with two outs, that was the one that hit me.

Q. You mentioned Landon Sims. He's been on the mound pretty much every big win. What is it like to have a guy like that that you know you can turn to him and you know he can be on the mound at the end of all of this?

COACH LEMONIS: If you go back over the year, we gave him the ball in so many big moments, I don't think he ever lost a lead. The only time he got hit is I put him in a blowout in the SEC Tournament to get work, and that's the only time he got hit all year long.

I mean, he's been just phenomenal. He was phenomenal here. And really we didn't have to use him, crazy use him during the year, but, man, during this last month he's had to take the ball a couple of times when he's fatigued and he still just competes.

And I'm looking forward -- I am glad we got him back for another year. I know he's going to go play Team U.S.A. this summer. But the year he had, most people haven't had years like him in college baseball. And every time he pitches, it's just so much pressure. And he's performed every single time.

I want to thank -- all our media is great, but we have this big group that covers us in Mississippi. And we appreciate you. The stories you tell, the articles you write and the articles you write when we win like a night like this, but also the professionalism you have when we lose and you still support us. And we appreciate you.