NCBWA names Henderson 2018 Coach of the Year
Gary Henderson was named the 2018 National College Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year on Saturday in Omaha. PHOTO: Kelly Donoho | MSU Athletics
Prior to Mississippi State baseball's College World Series opener, interim head coach Gary Henderson was named the 2018 National College Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year on Saturday [June 16].
The award is the second of its kind for the season for Henderson, who was also named the 2018 Perfect Game/Rawlings Coach of the Year this past week.
Henderson was elevated from the role of assistant coach on Feb. 21 and has led the Diamond Dawgs to a 37-24 mark at the helm. State started the season 14-15 overall and 2-7 in Southeastern Conference play, but turned it around at the start of April and since then is 23-12, along with a 10-1 mark against top-five teams.
Henderson now has the Diamond Dawgs in their first College World Series appearance since 2013, and the 10th in program history. State's NCAA Tournament run began with a loss in the Tallahassee Regional opener to Oklahoma, but the Bulldogs rebounded with four-straight wins to advance and become the 23rd team in the current 64-team NCAA Tournament format to win a regional after losing its first game.
In Super Regional play in Nashville, Tenn., State spilt its first two contests with Vanderbilt, each game ending with a walk-off home run. MSU outlasted the Commodores in 11 innings to clinch its College World Series berth.
On the game's biggest stage, it was only fitting the Mississippi State baseball team kept conducting business as usual Saturday night [June 16].
Luke Alexander had his third walk-off hit of the season as the OmaDawgs opened the College World Series with a 1-0 win over Washington before a crowd of 24,758 at TD Ameritrade Park.
The Bulldogs now own a walk-off win in regional, super regional and world series play.
In Monday night's [June 18] winner's bracket matchup, MSU (38-27) will face North Carolina (44-18) at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
For more, please visit HailState.com.
