No. 17 Bulldogs Take Starkville Regional Opener, 10-1

Friday, May 29

Starkville

1 p.m.

Mississippi State

41-17

Lipscomb

29-25

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Lipscomb	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	6	1
Mississippi State	0	0	0	3	0	1	5	1	X	10	10	0

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

No. 17 Bulldogs Take Starkville Regional Opener, 10-1

May 29, 2026 | Baseball

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STARKVILLE – No. 17 Mississippi State opened the Starkville Regional looking every bit like a top seed with Duke Stone setting the tone and the Bulldogs' offense eventually breaking through.

Stone struck out 10 over six shutout innings, Jacob Parker homered and drove in three runs, and MSU rolled past Lipscomb 10-1 on Friday afternoon at Dudy Noble Field.

State (41-17) advanced in the winner's bracket after scoring three runs in the fourth inning, adding another in the sixth and blowing the game open with a five-run seventh. The Diamond Dawgs finished with 10 hits and drew five walks while holding Lipscomb (29-25) to six hits.

Stone delivered one of the sharpest starts of his career. The right-hander allowed just three hits, did not issue a walk and struck out 10 of the 21 batters he faced over six innings. He improved to 7-3 and handed the ball to Tyler Pitzer with a comfortable lead after MSU had built a 4-0 advantage.

The Diamond Dawgs finally solved Lipscomb starter Alexander Llinas in the fourth. Ace Reese singled to right, Noah Sullivan walked and Parker lined an RBI single through the right side to bring home Reese. Vytas Valincius followed with a bunt single to load the bases before Reed Stallman delivered a two-run single up the middle to give Mississippi State a 3-0 lead.

Parker stretched the advantage in the sixth with a solo homer down the right-field line, his 14th home run of the season. Valincius followed with a double, but MSU settled for one run in the inning.

State left no doubt an inning later.

Gehrig Frei was hit by a pitch and Reese walked before Sullivan drew another walk to load the bases. Parker worked a bases-loaded walk to score Frei, and Valincius ripped a two-run double to right center. Kevin Milewski capped the inning with a two-run single to left center, pushing the Bulldogs' lead to 9-0.

Frei added a solo home run to center field in the eighth, his 10th of the season, to make it 10-0.

Valincius led Mississippi State at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Parker went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Reese finished 2-for-4 and scored twice. Stallman and Milewski each drove in two runs.

Lipscomb avoided the shutout in the ninth when Cam Pruitt singled, Jordan Thomas walked and Blake Carter delivered an RBI single down the left-field line off Jack Gleason.

Pitzer worked two scoreless innings in relief for MSU, allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout. Gleason pitched the ninth.

Llinas took the loss for Lipscomb, allowing six runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts in six-plus innings. Collin Bosley-Smith gave up four runs over the final two innings.

The game drew 10,470 fans and lasted 2 hours, 41 minutes.

The Bulldogs will play Saturday at 8 p.m. on SEC Network against No. 2 seed and 24th-ranked Cincinnati. Sophomore left-hander Tomas Valincius (10-2, 2.93 ERA) is slated to start for State while the Bearcats go with senior righty Logan Knight (4-4, 4.98 ERA). No. 3 seed Louisiana and No. 4 seed Lipscomb will play in an elimination game at 3 p.m. also on ESPN+.

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