Mississippi State
41-25
Louisiana
43-17
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi State | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 20 | 1 |
| Louisiana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
Diamond Dawgs Reach Super Regional In Dominant Fashion
June 01, 2026 | Baseball
STARKVILLE -Â Â No. 17 Mississippi State saved its loudest swings of the Starkville Regional for the final night at Dudy Noble Field.
Jacob Parker homered twice, drove in four runs and was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player as Mississippi State overwhelmed No. 25 Louisiana 19-5 on Sunday night to win the Starkville Regional and advance to next weekend's Athens Super Regional against third-ranked Georgia. It was the 17th NCAA Regional Championship in program history.
The Diamond Dawgs (41-25) pounded out 20 hits, launched seven home runs and scored in seven different innings to secure another postseason celebration in front of a maroon-and-white crowd. Louisiana finished its season 43-17.
Parker went 4-for-4 with five runs scored, two walks, a double, two home runs and four RBIs. He was one of five MSU players with multiple hits and one of four Bulldogs to homer in a decisive offensive performance.
Gehrig Frei started the barrage immediately, leading off the game with a home run to right-center. Two batters later, Parker followed with a solo shot to the same part of the park to give State a 2-0 lead before Louisiana recorded its second out.
Ryder Woodson added a solo homer in the second to make it 3-0, and Mississippi State broke the game open with four runs in the fourth. Reed Stallman led off with a ground-rule double and scored on Kevin Milewski's RBI single. Frei followed with a run-scoring single, and Ace Reese capped the inning with a two-run homer to right-center for a 7-1 advantage.
The Ragin' Cajuns got on the board in the third on Noah Lewis' solo homer and added single runs in the fifth and sixth, but MSU answered nearly every push with more power.
The Bulldogs added a run in the fifth when Parker walked and scored on Woodson's RBI single. State then erupted for five more in the seventh. Noah Sullivan doubled to start the inning, Parker drove him home with a double, Vytas Valincius followed with an RBI double and Stallman tripled in another run. Woodson then blasted his second homer of the night, a two-run shot to left, to stretch the lead to 13-3.
Louisiana scored twice in the bottom of the seventh on RBI singles by Blaze Rodriguez and Lee Amedee, but MSU's offense kept rolling. Sullivan doubled in the eighth before Parker hit his second homer, a two-run blast to left.
Valincius delivered the final blow in the ninth, launching a grand slam to left to give the Diamond Dawgs their largest lead of the night.
Woodson went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs, while Frei finished 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs. Sullivan was 3-for-6 with three runs, and Vytas Valincius drove in five.
Ryan McPherson earned the win for Mississippi State, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts over five innings. Jack Bauer, Maddox Miller, Ben Davis and Dane Burns combined to cover the final four innings.
The regional drew 57,794 fans across the weekend, including 9,901 for Sunday night's championship game.
Mississippi State will now turn its attention to Georgia, with a trip to the College World Series on the line in Athens next weekend.
2026 Starkville Regional All-Tournament Team
P — Tomas Valincius, Mississippi State*
P — Duke Stone, Mississippi State
C — Jack Natili, Cincinnati
1B — Reed Stallman, Mississippi State
2B — Gehrig Frei, Mississippi State*
3B — Ace Reese, Mississippi State*
SS — Blaze Rodriguez, Louisiana*
OF — Jacob Parker, Mississippi State*
OF — Vytas Valincius, Mississippi State
OF — Cal Sefcik, Cincinnati
DH — Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati
Most Outstanding Player — Jacob Parker, Mississippi State
*Denotes unanimous selection.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McPherson, Ryan (4-1)
L: Pruitt,Sawyer (7-5)
Batting:
2B: Sullivan, Noah 2 ; Parker, Jacob 1 ; Valincius, Vytas 1 ; Stallman, Reed 1
3B: Stallman, Reed 1
HR: Frei, Gehrig 1 ; Reese, Ace 1 ; Parker, Jacob 2 ; Valincius, Vytas 1 ; Woodson, Ryder 2
RBI: Frei, Gehrig 2 ; Reese, Ace 2 ; Parker, Jacob 4 ; Valincius, Vytas 5 ; Stallman, Reed 1 ; Woodson, Ryder 4 ; Milewski, Kevin 1
SH: Valincius, Vytas 1 ; Chance, Bryce 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Frei, Gehrig 3 ; Reese, Ace 1 ; Sullivan, Noah 3 ; Parker, Jacob 5 ; Valincius, Vytas 2 ; Stallman, Reed 2 ; Woodson, Ryder 2 ; Milewski, Kevin 1
CS: Frei, Gehrig 1
HBP: Frei, Gehrig 1 ; Reese, Ace 1 ; Milewski, Kevin 1
PO: Frei, Gehrig 1
Batting:
2B: Rodriguez,Blaze 1 ; Markle,Drew 1
HR: Brown,Colt 1 ; Lewis,Noah 1
RBI: Rodriguez,Blaze 1 ; Amedee,Lee 1 ; Brown,Colt 1 ; Lewis,Noah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brown,Colt 1 ; Mandino,Maddox 2 ; Lewis,Noah 2
SB: Lewis,Noah 1
CS: Lewis,Noah 1
