Mississippi State baseball is off to a hot start to the 2026 season. Following their sweep over Delaware, the Diamond Dawgs are 8-0. It's the best start to a season for the program since 2015's 13-0. Granted, they've yet to be tested, but seeing as how the Bulldogs have suffered recent early-season losses to the likes of Austin Peay and VMI, handling business against lesser competition is a welcome change in Starkville.
Ace Reese and the Bulldog bats delivering on preseason hype
MSU was expected to have a high-powered lineup, and they're living up to that billing so far. The Diamond Dawgs are batting .341 as a team and slugging .545. All-American Ace Reese is red-hot to begin his junior campaign, batting .500 with 15 hits, seven for doubles and two home runs, and 11 RBI. Veteran Bryce Chance has nine hits and a .409 average in the early season. Gehrig Frei is coming off a 5-10 weekend. Transfers Vytas Valincius and Chone James have seen limited opportunities yet continue to deliver big at-bats, a sign of this team's depth at the plate.
Diamond Dawg's top arms emerging
On the mound is where State, while incredibly talented, needed to see some faces step-up in the rotation, and they're getting that. Transfer Tomas Valincius has looked fantastic. He's 2-0 in two starts with 13 strikeouts and no runs allowed. Ryan McPherson bounced-back from a so-so first start with a 6.0 inning, 11 strikeout performance on Friday against Delaware. In his last two games, Duke Stone has struck-out 12 with no walks, two hits, and just one run allowed over 8.0 innings. Jack Gleason looks like a potential breakout star out of the bullpen. There's lots of depth here too.
Tougher competition on the way for Mississippi State baseball
The strength of schedule is about to ramp up significantly for the Diamond Dawgs. They'll host Austin Peay in the midweek for a game they should handle business in, but then, things get real. State travels to Arlington, TX for the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series next weekend, where they'll play currently undefeated Arizona State, a solid Virginia Tech squad, and finally No. 1 ranked UCLA. They'll then head to Hattiesburg for a rivalry clash with a ranked Southern Miss squad.
That four-game stretch will tell us quite a bit about how good this MSU team truly is. It'll serve as a measuring stick for them just a few weeks away from SEC play. So far, the Diamond Dawgs have been as advertised, looking the part of a Top 5 squad. The next step is confirming that against quality competition.