Mississippi State
Auburn
No. 11 MSU Hosts Sixth-Ranked Auburn
May 06, 2026 | Baseball
STARKVILLE - Mississippi State has spent much of Brian O'Connor's first season proving it belongs in the national conversation. This weekend, the No. 11 Diamond Dawgs get another chance to sharpen that case against another one of the country's best when No. 6 Auburn visits Dudy Noble Field for a three-game series beginning Thursday night.
The series brings together two teams with identical 14-10 SEC records and plenty still at stake in the league race and postseason picture. MSU enters 37-12 overall after bouncing back from a road series loss at No. 4 Texas with a 21-6, seven-inning rout of Nicholls on Tuesday. Auburn comes to Starkville at 33-14 overall.
First pitch Thursday is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Friday's game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and Saturday's finale set for 3 p.m., both on SEC Network.
For State, the weekend offers another measuring stick in a season loaded with them. The Bulldogs have already swept then-No. 18 Ole Miss in Oxford, swept Vanderbilt at Dudy Noble Field, swept LSU during Super Bulldog Weekend, swept South Carolina on the road for the first time in program history. Now MSU returns home, where it is 24-6 this season and where the nation's largest crowds continue to give the Diamond Dawgs one of college baseball's most recognizable advantages.
Mississippi State leads the country with an average attendance of 11,626 fans per game at Dudy Noble Field and ranks second nationally in total attendance at 348,801. The Bulldogs have already drawn five of the top 25 on-campus crowds in NCAA baseball history this season, including 15,289 against LSU on April 25, the third-largest on-campus crowd ever.
The atmosphere should match the stakes.
Mississippi State and Auburn are separated by little on paper. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 121-100-1, though Auburn won the most recent series last April in Alabama. State swept Auburn the last time the Tigers came to Starkville in 2024.
This year's matchup has the look of a strength-on-strength series. MSU owns one of the SEC's most explosive lineups, batting .310 with a .538 slugging percentage, 113 doubles and 86 home runs. Auburn counters with one of the nation's best pitching staffs, carrying a 3.33 ERA, a .224 opponent batting average and the nation's best strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Tigers have walked only 119 batters all season, while State's staff has struck out 549 hitters and holds opponents to a .229 average.
The opening game features one of the best pitching matchups of the SEC weekend. Mississippi State will start sophomore left-hander Tomas Valincius, who is 7-2 with a 2.37 ERA, 92 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 68 1/3 innings. Auburn will counter with sophomore left-hander Jake Marciano, who is 4-3 with a 2.26 ERA, 87 strikeouts and 12 walks.
Valincius has delivered several of State's biggest outings, including seven shutout innings at Arkansas and a 14-strikeout performance against Vanderbilt. He has struck out double-digit hitters three times in SEC play and gives the Diamond Dawgs a reliable tone-setter in a series opener that could carry postseason weight.
Friday's matchup sends MSU right-hander Duke Stone against Auburn right-hander Andreas Alvarez. Stone is 6-1 with a 4.40 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings. Alvarez has been one of Auburn's most effective arms, entering at 8-2 with a 2.56 ERA, 80 strikeouts and 18 walks. State has not announced a Saturday starter, while Auburn is scheduled to start right-hander Alex Petrovic, who is 7-2 with a 3.14 ERA.
Stone has shown swing-and-miss stuff throughout his sophomore season and is coming off five innings of one-run ball at Texas. His best SEC outing came at South Carolina, where he set career highs with six innings, 12 strikeouts and 101 pitches in a win that helped MSU secure a historic road sweep.
The Bulldogs' offense gives O'Connor several ways to pressure Auburn's staff. Ace Reese continues to anchor the order, hitting .317 with 17 home runs, 60 RBIs and an SEC-leading 19 doubles. The junior third baseman went 4-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs against Nicholls and has 36 extra-base hits on the season.
Bryce Chance has been one of State's most consistent hitters, batting .365 with 17 doubles and only 12 strikeouts all season. The graduate outfielder, the only player on the roster who played for MSU before 2025, also delivered a grand slam at Texas last weekend and is hitting .359 in SEC play.
Freshman Jacob Parker has quickly become another force in the lineup. Parker is batting .342 with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs and has hit two grand slams in his last seven games. He is also batting .344 in SEC play, giving State another left-handed bat with middle-of-the-order production.
Reed Stallman adds more power after a two-homer game against Nicholls pushed him to 10 home runs and 43 RBIs. Noah Sullivan brings a .323 average, eight homers and 37 RBIs, while Gehrig Frei is hitting .316 with 54 hits, eight homers and 35 RBIs.
MSU's offensive depth has been one of the defining traits of O'Connor's first club in Starkville. The Bulldogs rank eighth nationally in doubles, eighth in runs, ninth in slugging percentage, 10th in hits and 12th in home runs. Reese and Chance rank first and second in the SEC in doubles, giving State a lineup capable of scoring in bunches without relying solely on the long ball.
Auburn presents a much different challenge than Nicholls did Tuesday. The Tigers are batting .303 with a .402 on-base percentage and 60 home runs, but their identity begins on the mound. Auburn ranks second nationally in ERA, first in WHIP, first in strikeout-to-walk ratio and first in fewest walks allowed per nine innings.
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