STARKVILLE — There is no escaping the expectation of greatness at Dudy Noble Field.
The walls going into the clubhouse and media room, named the Omaha Room, are lined with images of past glories. The most recent glory, and the program’s crowning achievement, came in 2021 with a national championship. That’s also the last time the Diamond Dawgs made the trip to the College World Series.
The 2026 team is determined to change that. A consensus Top-10 team in preseason, ranked as high as No. 3 in some polls, the Bulldogs are geared up for the new season with a returning group of veterans, one of the top transfer-portal classes in the country, and one of the most accomplished coaches in the game, Brian O’Connor, embarking on his debut season in Starkville.
“Thursday after our scrimmage was over, I was standing on home plate with the team around me and I’m jumping up and down,” O’Connor said of his excitement for the new year in a press conference on Monday. “The veins are coming out of my neck because I’m so passionate about what it all means to them… what this means.”
O’Connor pointed to the M-over-S baseball logo on the left side of his shirt when speaking to local media. He has made a point of learning what the logo means to players past and present, and it’s become a common topic in his team with the team. It’s a logo that carries a lot of weight within the sport and in the community, and he’s made sure that both he and his players understand that.
“I talked to them about the hallowed ground they’re standing on when they’re in our stadium,” O’Connor continued. “It’s got to mean everything to them.”
Come Together
Some players understand a bit more than others, and more than the coach, what the baseball-specific logo means. All-American third baseman Ace Reese returns after an All-SEC and SEC Newcomer of the Year 2025 campaign, highlighting a group that features Noah Sullivan, Bryce Chance and Ryan McPherson among others.
They’ve welcomed a group of newcomers from across the country, as well as several from O’Connor’s last job at Virginia. The collision of cultures was anything but conflicting, though.
“It’s been awesome. You really learn,” Reese said of working with the newcomers. “It was cool having a bunch of new guys come in and keeping a bunch of the old guys. They taught us to win, how the coaches work and we tell them the Mississippi State way… Having that gel was nice, and we just get after it every day.”
“I’m learning the Mississippi way from these guys,” newcomer Aidan Teel added, “and it’s been special to go out there and play in this ballpark every day with a great group of guys.”
Chance, the longest-tenured Bulldog in the squad, is an important member of the group of leaders within the locker room because of his experience. He committed to a team that had just won a national championship, but in the years since he’s seen both highs and lows as the program searches for a way back to Omaha.
For him, and for the rest of the team, it’s the standard they want to meet, and Chance has done his part in preparing his teammates for it.
“I don’t want anybody to get out there and be shocked as far as the new guys,” he said. “It’s a really fun environment, obviously, something I’ll never take for granted, but there’s nothing like running out there. The main thing is I don’t want the guys to run out there and be surprised at what’s going on and what’s at stake.”
Carry That Weight
The Bulldogs still have work to do before the first pitch is thrown next Friday against Hofstra. The team will play four more scrimmages in the final 10 days before the start of the season, working on getting more at-bats, increasing pitch counts and ramping up the intensity ahead of a long campaign.
With high expectations to contend in a crowded SEC and national picture, the intensity has to start well before the first pitch was thrown.
“My approach has been they’re all up for battle, but the reality is you’ve got an All-SEC third baseman back in Ace Reese, you’ve got some guys that are back here that have certainly proven their capability,” O’Connor said when asked about the order. “Even though we continue to make it (an) open competition, we’re still trying to figure out different combinations of who might play where. I love that we’ve got a lot of versatility from a position-player standpoint.”
The fall semester featured a number of scrimmages, a couple of fall games against Florida State and Tulsa and exercises in strength and leadership.
O’Connor conducted an exercise within the team, asking them to write out their definition of leadership and then identify who they believed to be the team leaders on a roster printout.
“I loved reading every one of them, how they define leadership, who they look to as leaders and why,” O’Connor said. “Certainly, there’s some returning State players that were listed quite a bit, but you’d be surprised there’s some new players that got a lot of votes and great words on why they’re leaders.”
To some surprise, the head coach announced that there will be no official team captains.
“I’ve always been a believer that no matter what year you are, what your situation is, you can lead in your own individual way. So we will not have captains of Mississippi State this year, because I believe that everybody has to lead in their own individual way.”
The lack of captains does not make for a lack of leadership, as the team has plenty of experienced players, but the focus on building leaders throughout the ranks fits into the vision O’Connor has for the program now and in the future. He understands the weight of expectation that comes year-in and year-out for the Diamond Dawgs, and that’s not something he’s shying away from.
“As a man, you make a choice: you either run to it or run away from it,” O’Connor said. “I believe that this group of young men are excited about running to it. You can’t run away from expectations. It is what it is, it’s got it’s place. It comes down to going out and playing tough, great, fundamental baseball. That’s what this program was built on and will continue to be built on.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
