STARKVILLE – There was no doubt left in Dudy Noble Field when Noah Sullivan launched a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning of Saturday’s win over Lipscomb. His second deep shot of the day put the Bulldogs up 13-0 over Lipscomb, and was part of a 12-run home half to build a 19-0 lead before the visitors had even started a second run through their batting order.
The Diamond Dawgs, now 14-2 and up to No. 3 in the D1Baseball Top 25, completed a busy week with a 26-0 demolition of the Bisons in the program’s biggest home win since 1999.
The offensive display came after a start-and-stop week for the MSU order. Six runs from two innings at Southern Miss, a scoreless first half in Game 1 against Lipscomb and then a slow finish in Game 2 had head coach Brian O’Connor looking for more.
“When those opportunities present themselves, we’ve got to play better complementary, opportunistic baseball, and capitalize on more of the opportunities we have and that we had tonight,” he said.
The Bulldogs left nine runners on base in Friday’s series-clinching win, and despite a good showing to take control early in the game, O’Connor was looking for more from his guys in situations with a chance to add to the advantage.
“We’re better than that,” O’Connor said. “I challenged the team… that we come out and play a really good fundamental baseball game tomorrow.”
The Bulldogs did just that, allowing just one hit, one walk and no errors defensively in the run-rule shutout victory.
“The thing that I was impressed about our team today is we played the cleanest, best game that we’ve played this weekend,” he said. “That wasn’t because of the 26 runs. Our defensive intensity at 10 a.m. was really good. I thought Duke Stone was outstanding, our pitching was very good, and our offensive approach was the best that it’s been. That’s what I’m proud of, that in every facet of the game we showed up at 7:15 a.m. this morning, and the guys were locked in, ready to go and play the most complete game of the week.”
Stone, the emerging starter, set the tone early. The sophomore got his first Sunday start a week ago against No. 1 UCLA in Arlington, Texas, and got his third win of the season with four perfect innings to shut down any hopes the visitors might have had about swiping a game before heading back to Nashville.
Stone registered six punchouts and fanned all three batters faced at the top of the fourth inning despite waiting nearly an hour to get back out on the mound as his teammates pummeled the Lipscomb pitching staff.
It was another strong display of the team’s firepower and depth on both sides of the ball, which Stone observed fondly after the game.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Stone said of the team’s chemistry. “I was talking to (Director of Player Development) Mike Robers, he said they took a lot of pride in that this offseason, putting together a team that not only has talent… we all bonded really well, they did a good job bringing in guys and there’s not one guy that’s a problem.”
The Bulldogs lost two one-run games in early tests against Top-10 opposition, and while those losses stung, they have done little to slow a group with plenty of confidence and the camaraderie to match.
The Bulldogs will play one more nonconference game against Tulane in Biloxi tonight before traveling to No. 6 Arkansas to begin their SEC campaign this weekend.
Health update
The Bulldogs were without centerfielder Aidan Teel in each of the last four games due to an illness. He was spotted in the dugout with the team on Saturday, and O’Connor confirmed that he was no longer contagious but was still unavailable to play as he recovered.
First baseman Reed Stallman also saw limited action last week after sustaining a foot injury against UCLA. O’Connor remarked that a play against Southern Miss last Tuesday, in which he was thrown out going for second base, was an example of his struggles.
Finally, O’Connor gave an update about William Kirk over the weekend. The pitcher will miss the rest of the season and undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL. The redshirt freshman southpaw felt the injury in the second inning of a game against Austin Peay in February, and couldn’t get through one warm-up pitch afterward.
History
Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of Ron Polk’s first game as head coach at Mississippi State. The man who literally wrote the book on college baseball is now a special assistant to the athletic director, a role he has held since 2020, working with former MSU player and head coach John Cohen and current AD Zac Selmon.
Polk remains close with the Bulldog baseball program, traveling with the team on road trips and
As someone who grew up just across the river from Omaha, O’Connor has always been aware of who Polk was and his significance in the sport.
“Back in my parents’ house in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I’ve got College World Series programs signed by Coach Polk and former Mississippi State teams,” O’Connor told local media on Saturday. “As a coach, as a young coach getting into the profession and becoming a head coach at the age of 34, Coach Polk is somebody in this profession I’ve always admired. It wasn’t the wins I always admired, I mean, look what he has built here. The standard and expectation of this place. That is because of Coach Polk, the young men he recruited here, and this community that loves this baseball program. Coach Polk was the leader of all that happening.”
O’Connor has spoken highly of Polk’s influence since arriving in Starkville last summer to take the reins of the storied program. He took the time after a series win over Lipscomb to recognize Polk’s wide-reaching influence.
“Through baseball, Ron Polk has brought this community together,” he continued. “And how many people really get the opportunity to do that? And he did it, and that’s shown every time we throw the first pitch in this stadium. The love and passion that people in this community have for the baseball program is part of the reason that I decided it would be a dream to be the coach of Mississippi State. How can it not be for a coach?”
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