The first loss of the 2026 season came with a few “what if?” moments for the Mississippi State baseball team. The Diamond Dawgs fell to No. 1 UCLA, 8-7, in 10 innings in their final game of the Amegy Bank Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex. They came from down 3-0 to take a 5-3 lead going into the ninth inning, lost the lead in the ninth and then came up one unlucky play short of walking it off before losing in extras.

“The first takeaway is I’m pissed because I hate losing,” head coach Brian O’Connor said to local media who made the trip to Arlington for the series. “Obviously, we’ve got a really good team, UCLA’s got a great ballclub. That was like a heavyweight fight.”

The ninth inning saw the Bulldogs let up a pair of runs to go all square at 5-5 at the top of the inning before Andrew Raymond led off the bottom of the ninth with a sharp single to right field. Ryder Woodson followed and caught nearly all of a 3-2 pitch, sending it deep into center field. The ball hit the ground, bounced up and traveled over the center field wall for a ground-rule double.

In most cases, batters will take that; two men on in scoring position with no outs, but it was a painful break against the Bulldogs. Pinch runner Gatlin Sanders was well-positioned to get home and win the game had the ball stayed in play, and instead the game went on and the Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize.

“We kept battling back, did a nice job of managing the game from a pitching standpoint. Time and again, guys rose up,” O’Connor continued. “The game of baseball is a game of inches. I told the team you can’t look back and say, ‘what if?’ Ryder Woodson’s ball in the right center gap, bounces and gets out of the ballpark, that was the game-winner right there. Gatlin Sanders was in motion and it just didn’t work out our way. Listen, they’ve got some star power in their lineup. That showed up today, and so do we. I’m proud of our guys, and we’ll bounce back.”

Tried and tested

Even with the loss to the Bruins, there was plenty of encouragement for Bulldog fans over the course of the weekend in Arlington. The opportunity to test their mettle against a trio of Power 4 opponents proved to be a fruitful one for the Diamond Dawgs, who recorded their first 10-0 start in more than a decade, and more importantly, proved they can execute against some of the best in the country.

The weekend started with an 8-4 win over Arizona State on Friday, followed by a high-scoring 15-8 takedown of Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The Bulldogs led 13-2 entering the bottom of the eighth inning against the Hokies before a late flurry put the game in doubt. It took some work for the young bullpen to put out the fire, but Jack Gleason proved himself again to register the final three strikeouts and seal the win. 

“I think we have a special ballclub,” O’Connor said on Sunday when asked what he had learned about his team. “We have a team with a lot of heart, a team that is very talented, and we have a lot of options… I love our ballclub, I love what we earned this weekend.”

The only easy day was yesterday

The 2026 Bulldogs are only just getting started, but the tests keep coming this week. Just one day after getting home from Texas, the team is traveling to Hattiesburg for a test against No. 12 Southern Miss.

The Golden Eagles are 10-1 on the young season and fresh off of a big week of their own. Wins over Oregon State, Baylor, Alabama and a series sweep of Louisiana Tech have them looking to climb closer to their in-state neighbors to the north in the early season rankings. The Tuesday meeting is for more than just bragging rights or claims to the Governor’s Cup, it’s a resume builder for May when it comes time to nail down host sites. It may be a long way off, but that’s the caliber of team both Bulldogs and Golden Eagles believe they have.

MSU and USM will meet at Pete Taylor Park today at 6 p.m. The game will be available to watch via stream on ESPN+.