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Mississippi State baseball heading to ACC country for regional play

Mississippi State baseball is back in the the tournament, and they're off to ACC country for regionals.

By Andrew Miller

May 24 2024; Hoover, AL, USA; Mississippi State batter Dakota Jordan celebrates after driving in a pair of runs against Tennessee at the Hoover Met during the SEC Tournament.
May 24 2024; Hoover, AL, USA; Mississippi State batter Dakota Jordan celebrates after driving in a pair of runs against Tennessee at the Hoover Met during the SEC Tournament. / Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News / USA
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After two down years and a lot of frustrations, Mississippi State baseball is back in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Bulldogs put together a 38-21 season that included a 17-13 SEC record and fifth-place finish in league play. It was a big step back towards what's expected in Starkville.

In fact, it was a strong enough season that many expected State would host a regional. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were not announced as one of the 16 regional hosts yesterday evening. It was a controversial decision that Bulldog fans had plenty of opinions on.

The Diamond Dawgs will have to hit the road for regional play, and today, we learned where they're headed.

Mississippi State baseball is headed to Charlottesville

MSU is off to ACC country. The Bulldogs are the 2-seed in the Charlottesville regional, hosted by #12 national seed Virginia. They'll face 3-seed St. John's on Friday for their opening game of regional play. Virginia will play 4-seed Penn.

St. John's is 37-16-1 this season. They were strong in Big East play going 14-7 and winning the league tournament. The Red Storm opened the year with a win over Florida and earned solid series wins over Xavier and Creighton.

Virginia has lived up to their usual reputation. The Cavaliers are 41-15, going 18-12 in the ACC. They have a dangerous offense and picked up an impressive series win over North Carolina. Penn is in their second-straight regional after winning the Ivy League tournament. Last year they started 2-0 in the Auburn regional before dropping 2-straight to USM.

The Charlottesville regional is paired up with the Fayetteville regional. If State can advance through regionals, they'd most likely face a familiar foe in Arkansas for Super Regional play.

The Bulldogs and Cavaliers have plenty of recent history

While there's no guarantee State will face UVA, if they do, these programs have some history. The Bulldogs have fun memories in Charlottesville. In 2013, MSU played at UVA for Super Regionals. The Dawgs won the series 2-0 to advance to Omaha for the first time since 2007. That State team would be the first to advance to the National Championship Series.

In the 2021 College World Series, the Bulldogs faced the Cavs in the winner's bracket. Down 4-0 and being no-hit through seven innings, State exploded for six runs in the top of 8th, highlighted by Tanner Allen's unforgettable go-ahead 3-run homer, and went on to win 6-5. That State team, of course, would go on to win the first national title in school history.

While we'd love to see State playing in Starkville, this team has the makings of a dangerous 2-seed. If they can find some consistency at the plate, there's no reason they can't go on a run.

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