'We deserve this': How Mississippi State baseball fans reacted to first national championship

Pete Sneed is a man of his word. The lifelong Mississippi State fan said there would be tears littered across his face if the Bulldogs finally won their elusive first baseball national championship.

“You are going to see a grown man cry,” he said after the second inning. “Actually you are going to see a bunch of grown men cry tonight.”

They got their chance when Mississippi State beat Vanderbilt 9-0 Wednesday to win the College World Series for the school's first national championship in a team sport.

The Tupelo native made a point to come to Starkville for the College World Series. He sat surrounded by Bulldogs faithful in a packed Two Brothers Smoked Meats and wishfully waited for his opportunity to bawl.

He was far from the only person overcome with emotion.

Blake Looper, a lifelong Mississippi State fan and Starkville native, summed up the feeling of many during the fifth inning.

“This town deserves it,” Looper said. “It changes the university. It changes the culture. It would mean everything.”

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Across the street at Bin 612, Ty Thames had to deliver on a promise. During Game 2, Thames, the bar's owner, said he would give away free cheese fries to everyone in his bar if the Bulldogs won it all — and he had a packed house.

He’d had a few to drink when he promised it.

Thames kept his word.

“We always keep them in stock,” he said.

Thames didn’t go to Mississippi State. He went to culinary school, but he cheers for the team like he did. Baseball, he said, means more here.

“It’s a culture that’s been brewing over decades of time,” Thames said. “As barbecue is to the South, baseball is to Starkville.”

With his gator-skin boots, red beard and tattoos, Matt Lawalin looks like Mississippi State while cheering on the Bulldogs at Bin 612. He went to school here and works for a medical clinic in town.

Calling him a diehard fan might not do it justice. “If you went to a home game you’d understand.” Every State hit and Vanderbilt strikeout got him off his barstool, hollering at the TV.

He only drank Miller Lite for the game “You can’t change beers during the College World Series," he said. He considered wearing the same clothes he wore for Game 2.

He couldn’t be in Omaha, Neb., because he has work Thursday, but Starkville isn’t too bad, he said.

“Little Mississippi, who’s last in everything, got to be first for a change,” Lawalin said. “Nobody can take that away from us.”

Brian Groves stood in disbelief Wednesday night as the Bulldogs were one out away from the championship. Groves is a second-generation Mississippi State alumnus and the thought of his school winning it all — especially on his 35th birthday — was overwhelming. 

"This is so pure," Groves said seconds before champagne bottles began to pop in Two Brothers "This means everything. I've been waiting on this my entire life. We deserve this. Sometimes, the good guys win." 

The idea of Mississippi State fans deserving this championship extends past the thousands of supporters who made their way to TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha or the fans celebrating in downtown Starkville. 

"We are all Bulldog family tonight," Brent said. "All of us are maroon and white fans. It's been a long time coming." 

Brent thought of his 93-year old grandfather and the summers they spent in Starkville together. Brent said he couldn't wait to call him. It's a conversation the two have been waiting a lifetime to have and he knows exactly how it'll start.

"How 'bout them dawgs!"