The Mississippi State Bulldogs swept the Louisiana State University Tigers for the first time since 1985 in a competitive series in Starkville last weekend. The games were the highlight of Super Bulldog Weekend and drew massive crowds to Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs started the series off strong with a walk-off win in extra innings on Friday afternoon, giving them the advantage heading into the rest of the series.
In only 3.2 innings pitched, Tomas Valincius gave up seven runs to the Tigers. However, of the seven he gave up, only three were earned runs, implying that LSU’s early lead was not entirely his fault. The Bulldog defense struggled early in the game, allowing three errors in just four innings.
After Valincius came out of the game in the fourth, Bulldog pitching and defense improved, allowing only one more run in the ninth inning across five successive pitchers.
Head Coach Brian O’Connor gave his thoughts on the Bulldogs’ pitching.
“The story tonight for me was what an incredible job our bullpen did,” O’Connor said. “We mixed and matched out of the bullpen, used a number of different guys and the job they did was outstanding.”
Despite the defensive struggles, the Mississippi State offense was determined right from the start, slowly accumulating runs nearly every inning until the game came to a head in the tenth.
In the top of the 10th inning, the score was tied at 8-8, and LSU posed a massive scoring threat with the bases loaded and two outs, ready to take a potentially game-winning lead. Their hopes were shut down by an incredible diving catch from left fielder James Nunnallee to stop the Tigers from scoring and save the game.
The most memorable moment of the game, however, came in the bottom of the 11th inning.
After a hit from Bryce Chance, catcher Kevin Milewski came up to bat with two outs. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Milewski hit a two-run home run to the left field lounge that gave the Diamond Dawgs the victory.
On Saturday, MSU earned a hard-fought 9-8 victory, which secured the series win over LSU.
Bulldog fans showed up in numbers for Saturday’s nationally broadcast game, setting the 3rd-highest on-campus NCAA baseball attendance record with 15,289 fans in attendance.
The game started similarly to Friday’s, with LSU seizing an early lead and Mississippi State’s starting pitcher struggling to hold off the Tiger offense.
By the fifth inning, the Tigers had a 7-2 lead over the Bulldogs, but their scoring was cut short after freshman Jack Bauer came out of the bullpen.
Bauer, who was rated as the No. 1 freshman of 2026 by Perfect Game, had the best outing of his career so far, with eight strikeouts, no walks and only 1 run allowed in 3.1 innings pitched.
At the bottom of the seventh, the crowd seemed to surge with energy, chanting and cheering loudly, hoping the Bulldogs could find a way to get back into the game.
Fueled by the energy of “The Dude Effect,” the Diamond Dawgs refused to disappoint fans, delivering multiple consecutive hits from Ace Reese, Gehrig Frei and Noah Sullivan, as well as a walk from Blake Bevis to score a run and load the bases.
The moment climaxed when Jacob Parker, who was rated No. 9 in D1 Baseball’s top 100 freshmen on campus, came to the plate. With the bases loaded, Parker blasted a grand slam to the students in right field to tie the game and put the Bulldogs back into contention.
Veteran player Noah Sullivan gave his comment on the fan’s impact on the game in the post-game press conference on Saturday.
“I mean, this is why you come to Mississippi State, right?” Sullivan said. “That was the craziest fan experience I’ve ever seen. I was getting goosebumps on first base right before Jake hit that homer. It’s special, and tonight it was really special.”
The Bulldogs went on to score two more runs in the eighth inning, giving them the lead they needed to hold off the Tigers in the ninth and win the game 9-8.
On Sunday, MSU fought another uphill battle and came out on top, clinching the series sweep.
In the opening stages of the game, LSU took an early lead, and whenever the Bulldogs threatened to take it back, the Tigers responded with more runs.
That all changed in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Bulldogs scored four runs to give themselves a 9-8 lead.
Mississippi State went on to score two more runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, which would go uncontested by LSU’s offense thanks to scoreless outings from pitchers Ben Davis and Maddox Webb, resulting in a 13-8 victory to secure the first sweep of LSU since 1985.
Jack Gleason, who pitched 2.1 innings on Sunday without giving up a single hit, said that the games this weekend went exactly as planned for the Bulldog bullpen.
“In our pregame pitchers meetings, the game plan for every game was to win the second half of the game, and I feel like we did that this weekend,” Gleason said. “It’s just a huge confidence boost.”
Looking ahead, Mississippi State will play a rivalry game against Ole Miss on April 28 at Trustmark Park, as well as a series at Texas on May 1-3. These games will be available to watch on the SEC Network, with Sunday’s game at Texas set to be broadcast on ESPN.
