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Diamond Dawgs' big week pushes them back in top 5

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk03/30/26RobbieFaulkOn3

It was a week to remember for the Mississippi State Bulldog baseball team with four chances to earn wins over top 20 instate teams.

Taking on Southern Miss and Ole Miss over the course of six days was a brutal challenge but it was one that Brian O’Connor’s team accepted in a major way. When the dust settled State was 4-0 and had outscored the two teams 30-6. An eight-game winning streak has pushed the Diamond Dawgs back inside the top 5.

Baseball America has State No. 5 in their rankings this week while D1Baseball got State to No. 4. One could argue no one in the country has been more impressive in the last two weeks, however.

“What I take away from it is we’re consistent,” O’Connor said after another big week. “You see what you’re going to get out of us and that’s shown in almost every game. These young men come ready to play every day. That said, we can’t get too far out ahead of us.”

Dawgs are red hot

The Diamond Dawgs last lost a ball game on March 14 in game three of the Arkansas series when things unraveled in the eighth inning of a tie ball game. State’s offense had gone silent and the defense and bullpen fell apart in a four-run inning that would deliver a 7-3 series win for then No. 5 Arkansas.

Since that time, the Bulldogs won midweek games against Jackson State and No. 8 Southern Miss while sweeping Vanderbilt and Ole Miss in SEC play. It was an impressive week that began with a 12-0 beatdown of the Golden Eagles in just seven innings at Dudy Noble and then State allowed just six runs in three games to the Rebels in a sweep in Oxford.

After falling behind 4-3 at Ole Miss on Friday, State scored two runs in the ninth and shocked the Rebels to get the series-opening win. Saturday and Sunday it was about tough pitching and the long ball for the Bulldogs.

State hit three homers on Saturday and got 5.0 shutout innings from Tomas Valincius with just one run surrendered from the bullpen to win 6-1. On Sunday, Duke Stone and Ben Davis loaded the bases four times but never surrendered a run in those situations and got four home runs in a 7-1 win.

After Friday night starter Ryan McPherson went down with a forearm injury against Vanderbilt, there were some concerns about State’s third starting pitcher. LHP Charlie Foster delivered 4.2 strong innings against the Rebels on Friday to keep the Bulldogs in the game with Valincius and Stone toughing through their outings. With just two runs given up by the trio, there’s plenty to be excited about for Justin Parker.

“It’s set us down a little bit with Ryan being out, but Charlie came out on Friday night, pounded the zone and let the guys behind him work. He’s got the stuff to be a Friday night guy anyway,” Stone said. “Tomas has been dominant through the first three SEC games and is doing what he does. We just kind of put up zero after zero. That’s a really good ball club, it just happened to go our way this weekend.”

The last two weeks have been big to get the Bulldogs back on track, but the journey doesn’t let up. After Tuesday night’s matchup with Grambling (6 p.m.), State hosts a three-game set with fellow top 5 squad, Georgia. The No. 5 Bulldogs bring in former pitching coach Wes Johnson and are right there with State in having one of the best offenses in the country.

“We’ve played three SEC series and we’ve played pretty darn well,” O’Connor said. “The meat of our schedule is moving forward. We just have to take it for what it is, be proud of it and feel good about ourselves, but also know that there’s the next opportunity on Tuesday and we have a lot of baseball left and a lot to prove.”

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