The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
February 14, 2025 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
It was another perfect Opening Day at Dudy Noble, as they all seem to be.
STARKVILLE – As Mississippi State was locking down a season-opening win on Friday afternoon, Jim Ellis was watching intently from the press box. The now-retired legend got to simply watch on and enjoy as the new Voice of the Diamond Dawgs, Neil Price, held the honor of wrapping an MSU baseball game in Maroon and White a few hundred feet away down in the radio booth.
In a Lounge just beyond the centerfield wall, Tanner Allen, Rowdey Jordan and Brad Cumbest – heroes of State's 2021 national championship squad – soaked in the sun at the place that'll remember them forever. Meanwhile folks like Noah Sullivan and Ace Reese and Reed Stallman, all sporting that M-over-S hat on game day for the first time, brought those at Dudy Noble Field to their feet the same way those aforementioned Bulldog greats used to.
Change is inevitable in life and in baseball. Players come and go. Different voices call the action. Time marches on.
Stadiums can go from pickup trucks beyond the left field fence, to a Carnegie Hall of College Baseball (or at least in Starkville it can).
Yet the more things change, the more they stay the same. That's especially true for Mississippi State baseball.
Through the years the setting has looked different. The main characters have altered. At its core though, MSU baseball – particularly MSU baseball at Dudy Noble Field – remains the same as it has been for decades. It's special beyond what any order of words could ever describe.
That was once again on full display Friday as State cruised to its Opening Day doubleheader sweep over Manhattan. The MSU family didn't just get to enjoy two wins. On Valentine's Day, Bulldogs everywhere got exactly the diamond they seem to yearn for year round – the kind that for decades has bonded folks together, began the careers of big league superstars and helped shape the very athletic history of Mississippi State University.
"Here isn't your typical college baseball. The Dude IS college baseball," former Bulldog shortstop and current Baltimore Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg said in a clip played on the videoboard and shared across social media channels.
You'd be hard pressed to find anyone that plays, watches or follows the sport to disagree. The bright lights in Stark Vegas have shined on more magical moments than that famous mouse's theme parks in Florida and California.
And while it's easy to reminisce and recall Masters' slam or MacNamee's Super Regional shot or Mangum's record breaker or fill in the blank with your favorite MSU moment – at State, even what most places consider regular will be remembered forever.
Put it to the test. In a decade or two, there'll still be folks hanging out over outfield grills at The Dude bringing up the events of Opening Day 2025.
They'll be saying things like, 'Remember when Reese announced his Bulldog presence with a 400-plus foot shot well over the right field wall? Wasn't it cool when Sullivan and his Rollie Fingers mustache stepped up to the dish for his first Dawg at-bat, with 'Freebird' blaring, and drove a bases-clearing double into the gap? How fun was it to get two wins on the first day of the season when Stallman capped off the second run-rule W with a three-run shot that had us all dreaming of how dangerous the Dawg lineup could be?'
It's not a matter of if that'll happen. Because it will. Baseball is just different here. It always has been. It always will be.
Today's heroes become tomorrow's fondest memories.
They say in life, the only certainties are death and taxes.
Nah. There's always The Dude.
This side of heaven, there's no place like it.
