Starkville restaurants show support for MSU baseball

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Thousands of Bulldog fans may have traveled to Omaha to support their team, but there are plenty of people still in Starkville that spent the day gearing up to watch the big game on TV.

Starkville restaurant managers have planned a few baseball viewing parties, and they said showing their support for MSU baseball is really the least they could do.

“We’re expecting a good turnout. We usually have a good turnout for the games. People still in town, not in Omaha, will be tuning in to watch,” said Central Station Grill assistant manager Patrick Sandidge.

Sandidge said the restaurant has been keeping up with MSU baseball for weeks now– often hosting watch parties.

“Tonight we’re going to have the games on all the TVs, we’ll have them broadcasting over the speaker systems, we’ll be running a special on some drinks. We’ll have $3 mimosas, bloody marys, and screwdrivers,” said Sandidge.

In fact, watch parties are pretty common this season.

Across town at Stagger In, employees spent their Sunday getting ready for the big game.

“We have a great atmosphere at Stagg. Our regulars that will be here, they’re kind of laid-back. They’ll yell and scream for them. I know a few of my friends are going to come up here and drink, so they’re going to have a good time with that. We have great food that they can eat too, so I think it’ll be a good time regardless if people aren’t here too,” said Stagger In Manager Sarah Banes.

Banes said the majority of their regulars are hard-core baseball fans.

“Business, we would expect it to probably be busy because we’re at Omaha, but honestly, everybody went to Nebraska. I have a lot of older regulars that went. We have a lot of college students that went. They got in vans and drove up there. They did crazy things to get there to watch them,” said Banes.

Both restaurants said supporting the Bulldogs is the least they could do.

“The university does so much for us bringing great guests in, so we like to give back. These things are always fun, hosting things for the university. It’s always a great crowd for the Bulldog fans to come out,” said Sandidge.

“Supporting the baseball team, they use us for catering orders, we have the coaches come in here and they use us, the baseball team actually comes and eats at Stagg, so it’s kind of nice to know that people who are so highly thought of come here so other people like to come here. We fully support them, and we love them,” said Banes.