STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball is back in the NCAA Tournament, traveling to Florida State University for the Tallahassee regional this weekend. MSU joins as the No. 3 seed with hosts No. 1 FSU, No. 2 seed Northeastern and No. 4 seed Bethune-Cookman for the weekend regional. They’ll begin play against Northeastern, one of the hottest teams in the country with an NCAA-best ERA of 2.92, on Friday.
The Bulldogs and Huskies will play at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and will stream exclusively on ESPN+.
This is MSU’s second year in a row making it to an NCAA regional after missing in both 2022 and 2023. The Bulldogs lost in the final elimination game against Virginia in the Charlottesville regional last year and haven’t made it to a Super Regional since the national championship run in 2021.
“I’m so proud of the hard work and effort this team and this staff have put in to ensure the Bulldogs are back in the NCAA Tournament where they belong,” said interim head coach Justin Parker. “You always want to be playing your best baseball this time of year, and our results over the past month indicate that this team is poised to do that. It’ll be a tough regional, and we look forward to getting down there and having our loyal fans join us in Tallahassee.”
The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 34-20 record, going 15-15 in Southeastern Conference play. The season took a strange turn at the end of April when national championship-winning head coach Chris Lemonis was fired midseason. Pitching coach Parker was named the interim head coach and holds a 9-2 record since taking over, complete with a series win over No. 17 Ole Miss and two much-needed series sweeps of Kentucky and Missouri to put the Bulldogs in postseason contention.
The Seminoles earned a regional with a 38-14 record, 17-10 in the Atlantic Coastal Conference. Guests Bethune-Cookman, 37-21, are the champions of the Southwestern Conference, and Northeastern, 48-9, are the Coastal Athletic Association champions.
The Bulldogs traveled to Tallahassee in 2018 for an NCAA Regional, when they were led by interim head coach Gary Henderson, who led the team to the College World Series that year.
Parker’s team didn’t begin the postseason as they intended. They recorded an early exit at the SEC Tournament in the opening round, losing 9-0 against Texas A&M.
“We still have our best ball ahead of us, luckily,” insisted two-way player Noah Sullivan after the defeat. “It’s frustrating because we played really good the past three weeks to a month. But we get back to it, back to practice once we get back.”
Though he was disappointed, Parker noted the opportunity to have an extra couple of days to reset and get guys healthy before finding out the next destination for the team. The loss to A&M turned into a bullpen game, one which featured a handful of guys making their return from injury and showing they can help in a postseason run.
“We’ve just got to get back to work,” he said. “We’ve got to prepare and get back to work, and probably the front end of this week looks like taking a day or two off, just let everyone catch their breath, rest up, and heal any injuries. We’re starting to get some guys back healthy on the mount. I thought Dane Burns and Charlie Foster were really bright spots today.”
The Bulldogs have plenty of firepower at full health. Ferriss Trophy finalist Ace Reese and John Olerud semifinalist Sullivan have led a productive group at the plate, along with the program’s new record holder for career home runs, Hunter Hines. Ace Pico Kohn will be ready to go with some much-needed rest as well, and Evan Siary has emerged as a reliable starting threat behind him as well.
“Getting everybody with nicks and bruises back on their feet, get in the weight room and then get back to it,” Sullivan said of the team’s objective before their Regional matchup. “We’ve got a lot of baseball left to play.”
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