Mississippi State
Nicholls
No. 11 Bulldogs Prep For Final Midweek Test
May 04, 2026 | Baseball
STARKVILLE - Mississippi State has reached the point in the season where every inning carries weight, even when it comes outside Southeastern Conference play.
The 11th-ranked Diamond Dawgs will try to turn the page quickly from a competitive road series at No. 4 Texas when they host Nicholls on Tuesday night at Dudy Noble Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+.
MSU enters the midweek matchup 36-12 overall and 14-10 in the SEC after dropping two of three in Austin. State won Saturday's game 7-4 but bookended the weekend with a 3-1 loss Thursday and an 11-6 defeat Sunday. For a club still sitting inside the national top 12 in every major poll, Tuesday offers a chance to reset before another top-10 SEC test arrives later in the week.
The Bulldogs host No. 6 Auburn for a three-game series beginning Thursday, making the Nicholls game more than a simple midweek date. It is a chance for Brian O'Connor's team to clean up the details, protect its home field and avoid letting one rough Sunday linger into the final stretch of the regular season.
Mississippi State has given itself plenty to protect. The Bulldogs are 23-6 at Dudy Noble Field this season and have won eight of their last 10 games overall. State's résumé includes sweeps of Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, South Carolina and LSU, as well as wins over ranked Southern Miss and Texas.
The Diamond Dawgs have also made Dudy Noble Field the center of college baseball's attendance conversation again. MSU leads the country with an average of 11,750 fans per game and ranks second nationally in total attendance at 340,759. The Bulldogs have already drawn five of the top 25 on-campus crowds in NCAA history this season, including 15,289 against LSU on April 25 during Super Bulldog Weekend.
That home-field advantage has been especially strong in this series. Mississippi State leads Nicholls 12-1 all-time and has won all nine meetings between the programs in Starkville, outscoring the Colonels 57-18 in those games. The Bulldogs have also won the last two matchups, including a 2-1 victory last season in Biloxi.
State will send right-hander Chris Billingsley Jr. to the mound against Nicholls left-hander Austin Vargas. Billingsley, a junior from Brent, Alabama, is 1-0 with a 4.87 ERA, 15 strikeouts and 12 walks. Vargas, a redshirt freshman, is 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA, 24 strikeouts and 22 walks.
Billingsley has become a regular midweek option for the Bulldogs. He made his first Division I start against Southern Miss on March 24, throwing two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, then logged a career-long 3 2/3 innings against UAB on April 7. He also started at Samford on April 14 as MSU rolled to an 11-1 run-rule victory.
The Diamond Dawgs enter hitting .306 with a .408 on-base percentage and .527 slugging percentage. Nicholls counters with a .277 batting average, .364 on-base percentage and .420 slugging percentage.
Power and gap production have helped keep State among the nation's most dangerous lineups. The Bulldogs lead the SEC and rank eighth nationally with 111 doubles. Ace Reese leads the league with 19 doubles, while Bryce Chance is second with 17. MSU also has 80 home runs, compared to 46 for Nicholls.
Reese continues to anchor the order for State. The junior third baseman is hitting .304 with 15 home runs, 54 RBIs and 34 extra-base hits. A first-team All-American a year ago, Reese homered in all three games of the Bulldogs' sweep of LSU and remains one of the most dangerous run producers in the SEC.
Chance has been one of MSU's steadiest players throughout the season. The graduate outfielder is hitting .363 with 57 hits, 17 doubles and 26 RBIs. He also delivered one of State's biggest swings in Austin with a grand slam against Texas on Sunday. Chance has maintained a 1.000 career fielding percentage and is the lone Bulldog on the roster who played for Mississippi State before 2025.
Freshman Jacob Parker has also added length to the lineup, hitting .330 with nine home runs and 37 RBIs. He has made 30 starts and has handled SEC play well, batting .344 against league competition. Parker's game-tying grand slam against LSU on April 25 helped fuel one of the most memorable wins of State's season.
Noah Sullivan, Gehrig Frei, Reed Stallman, Aidan Teel and Kevin Milewski give the Bulldogs more balance around that core. Sullivan is hitting .323 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs, Frei is batting .314 with seven homers and 34 RBIs, and Stallman has driven in 38 runs. Milewski, who was named MVP of the Governor's Cup, hit the walk-off two-run homer against LSU in the 11th inning on April 24.
Pitching has been just as important to State's rise. The Bulldogs own a 3.79 ERA, compared to Nicholls' 4.96, and have struck out 540 batters in 416 innings. State ranks 11th nationally in ERA, fifth in strikeouts per nine innings, eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio and ninth in WHIP.
Nicholls enters 25-22 overall and 15-12 in the Southland Conference under second-year coach Brent Haring. The Colonels have enough athleticism to create pressure, having gone 51-for-63 in stolen-base attempts, the same number of steals as MSU.
Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching 'HailStateBB' on X, Facebook and Instagram.
