With three two weeks left until the start of the 2014 campaign, the Mississippi State University Diamond Dawgs began their first spring scrimmages last week. 
Everyone who wears Maroon and White knows what happened in the 2013 baseball season and the run the Dogs made in Omaha. 
Although MSU took home the National Runner-up trophy, they put a spark into Bulldog Nation. The Dogs brought a community together and redefined what being a Bulldog is all about. The 2014 squad will return 26 players from its College World Series team. Replacing outfielder Hunter Renfroe and shortstop Adam Frazier will be a difficult task. However, pre-season All-American pitchers Jonathan Holder and Ross Mitchell will return back to Dudy Noble Field. 
Mitchell, the left-handed pitcher from Smyrna, Tenn., said he seeks to improve and is impressed by the new incoming pitchers.  
“It has been really cool to watch this freshman class come in and grow,” Mitchell said. 
Two of those notable freshmen are Dakota Hudson and Austin Sexton, who earned starts in last weekend’s scrimmages. Both Hudson and Sexton started off with two scoreless innings. 
MSU will also welcome back right-handed pitcher Brandon Woodruff to the mound after he underwent season-ending surgery a year ago. Woodruff said he felt great after weekend workouts and is ready to get back in action.
“(I) feel wonderful — 100 percent, and I’m ready to go,” he said. “Just get better each week, and just try to be 110 percent by the time the season starts.”
 Head coach John Cohen enters his sixth year as the Bulldogs’ skipper and said he is ready to get back to the diamond as well.  
“We are off to a good start, but we still have a long way to go,” Cohen said. “We have great leadership on this club, and the guys are really coming along.” 
The Bulldogs open play on Feb. 14 against Hofstra University. 
The first 16 games will be in Starkville with matchups against Memphis, Holy Cross, Mount St. Mary’s, Eastern Illinois, Michigan State and South Alabama. 
The Dogs will then head off to Tucson, Ariz., for a tournament to face University of Arizona and the University of California at Santa Barbara before starting the conference schedule.
Along with the return of the team, Mitchell said fans can see a return of the beloved Bench Mobb. 
“Last year (The Bench Mobb) just kind of happened and continued throughout the season, so it will be probably the same thing this season,” he said.
The Bulldogs do not seem fazed by the offseason hype and continue to work on the little things in order to get back to Omaha for a 10th time in the program’s history. The dogs are preseason No. 2 in the nation according to “College Baseball Newspaper” and No. 8 according to Baseball America.