Will Bednar carried No. 7 seed Mississippi State to a 2-1 win over No. 2 seed Texas in the opening round of the College World Series on Sunday in Omaha. Reliever Landon Sims managed to withstand a ninth-inning rally from the Longhorns as the two pitchers combined for 21 strikeouts, a College World Series single-game record.

MSU coach Chris Lemonis trusted Bednar would bounce back from a rough outing against Notre Dame in the Super Regionals. Bednar delivered a gem, striking out 15 over his 6+ inning outing. Bednar broke the Mississippi State record for strikeouts in a College World Series game (10) and topped his own previous career-high of 13 Ks in a game.

Mississippi State’s only scoring action took place in the top of the fourth. MSU scored its first run on an RBI sac fly from Scotty Dubrule, plating Kamren James. Brad Cumbest tripled down the right-field line to bring in the second run.

Bednar left in the seventh after issuing his first walk of the game. His final line was 6+ IP, 15 K, H, BB, HBP on 108 pitches.

The Bulldogs turned to Sims to finish off the Longhorns. Sims relieved Bednar by striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh inning. In the eighth inning, he set the Horns down in order, getting swinging strikeouts for the first two outs before a pop out ended the frame.

In the bottom of the ninth, Sims gave up a leadoff homer to Texas’ Mike Antico, cutting the lead to 2-1. Sims rebounded with a strikeout. The second out came via a ground out to short. Sims gave up back-to-back two-out singles, though, allowing the Longhorns to get the tying run to third base before the final out was finally recorded on a grounder to second.

Mississippi State moves on to a Tuesday winners’ bracket game against Virginia.