Mississippi State
Tulane
No. 3 Bulldogs Take On Tulane In Biloxi
March 09, 2026 | Baseball
BILOXI – No. 3 Mississippi State has one final test in front of it before beginning Southeastern Conference play.
The Diamond Dawgs are down on the coast to take on Tulane on Tuesday at 6 p.m. from Keesler Federal Park, home of the Biloxi Shuckers. The contest will be streamed on SEC Network.
Sophomore left-hander Charlie Foster will make his third start of the season for Mississippi State. In four appearances, Foster sports a 4.05 earned run average with 12 strikeouts and five walks across 6 2/3 innings and has not factored into a decision.
The Green Wave will counter with Jack Brafa. The junior righty has appeared in five games and made one start going 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA, 13 strikeouts and seven walks in nine innings of work.
It is the fifth consecutive year State has participated in the Hancock Whitney Classic has posted an 8-2 all-time record in Biloxi. Last year, the Bulldogs downed Old Dominion 9-4 and edged Nicholls 2-1 at the home of the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate.
MSU is off to a 14-2 start to the season and is a consensus top four team in all five major polls. The Diamond Dawgs are coming off a three-game sweep of Lipscomb last week, including a 26-0 seven-inning triumph on Saturday in which they allowed only one hit.
Mississippi State has one of the top offensive and pitching staffs in the country, ranking in the top 10 in nine key categories. At the plate, Brian O'Connor's Bulldogs are fourth nationally in both batting average (.356) and doubles (47), sixth in hits (191) and runs (172) as well as eighth in scoring (10.8) and slugging percentage (.601). On the mound, MSU has the sixth-most shutouts (three), its strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.96) is seventh and strikeouts per nine innings (12.2) ranks eighth.
The Diamond Dawgs currently have seven hitters batting over .400 with four more eclipsing the .300 plateau. Graduate first baseman Reed Stallman leads State's regulars with a .452 batting average while .405 hitter – Noah Sullivan – tops the team with five homers. Junior third baseman Ace Reese has driven in 21 runs and graduate outfielder Bryce Chance is 7-of-8 on steal attempts.
The Bulldogs' pitching staff has compiled a 3.55 ERA with 186 strikeouts and 47 walks in 137 frames. Opposing teams are hitting just .219 against them.
Ryan McPherson leads MSU with 28 strikeouts while Tyler Pitzer, Dane Burns and Jackson Logar each still have a perfect ERA. Ben Davis has recorded two of the team's five saves this spring.
Tulane heads to Biloxi at 9-7 after dropping a series on the road at No. 17 TCU. The Green Wave lost Game 1 10-2, bounced back with an 8-4 in the first game of a Sunday doubleheader but fell 4-3 in seven innings in the finale.
Jay Uhlman's squad is hitting .250 with nine homers and averaging 6.9 runs per game. Tulane is aggressive on the base paths with 29 steals in 32 tries and sports a .974 fielding percentage.
Jason Wachs leads the Green Wave regulars batting .339 with seven doubles and 22 RBIs. Kaikea Harris is the lone Tulane player with multiple long balls this year with two while Tanner Chun has been the biggest base thief with nine steals in 10 opportunities.
Green Wave hurlers have a collective ERA of 5.11 with 138 strikeouts and 79 walks through 132 innings. Opponents are hitting .246 against them with 17 homers.
Trey Cehajic has fanned 25 batters on the year while Jacob Moore and Aidan Rath each sport a flawless ERA. Tom Vincent has notched two of the team's three saves.
State leads the all-time series 79-34-2 in a series that dates back to 1904. However, the Green Wave won a pair of one-run games the last time the two teams met in New Orleans in 2022. The Diamond Dawgs won the opener of that series 19-2 but were edged 11-10 in 10 innings and 5-4 in the final two contests.
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