An Opening Weekend Full Of Winning And Learning
February 15, 2026 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
STARKVILLE – God probably isn't too concerned about the outcomes of baseball games. Considering all the world's issues, the creator of the universe surely has more pressing matters.
However, Friday looked like heaven was just about as excited for Mississippi State baseball as Bulldog fans have been for months.
It was 68 degrees with hardly a cloud in sight as MSU began the head coach Brian O'Connor era. The picturesque afternoon was perhaps a wink from above, providing a perfect setting for an Opening Day record crowd of 12,824. Thousands more packed Dudy Noble Field for a pair of games on Saturday to witness the first steps of a team loaded with promise.
By the time it was all said and done, the Diamond Dawgs were 3-0. But in the big picture, perhaps the biggest development was how the many new faces that fill State's roster got the chance to see and experience firsthand how special and unique it is to be a Diamond Dawg.
"You can talk to the players on how to manage their emotions, which I did leading up to the [first] game, but they have to experience it themselves," O'Connor said. "They have to go through it, and they have to have an ability in the game to slow the moments down, slow the game down, and not do too much. Do what the game tells you to do."
Without question a few heart rates were up over the weekend as State battled, and ultimately swept, a feisty Hofstra squad. How could the pulses not pound a bit, given the anticipation for the season, the electric crowd and the hopes for what these first few ballgames might ultimately lead to?
Sure some, like Ace Reese and Reed Stallman and Noah Sullivan and Bryce Chance, had seen and felt all this before. Then there were guys like James Nunnallee, one of the Virginia transfers who followed O'Connor to Starkville and drew the start in right field in each of the first three games.
"I hadn't really watched a lot of Mississippi State baseball before I got here, so I didn't know what to expect," Nunnallee said. "Getting to play here is incredible. That was so much fun and the fans are awesome. I was a little nervous my first at bat, but it's so much fun."
One could argue nerves played a role in several sequences on Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs didn't have a hit until the fourth inning on Opening Day. There were outs made on the bases with players perhaps being a bit too aggressive. There was a fundamental fielding miscue or two.
"Those are things that have happened over the last five weeks [in practice] and you instruct them and teach them," O'Connor said. "But then, the lights come on and plays happen and they try to do too much. I'll never fault a young man for trying too hard. But we have a lot of things we can learn from this weekend and grow from as a team. We're just fortunate we found a way to win two games [on Saturday] and three this weekend."
Ah, yes. Winning. That's ultimately what it's all about, and Mississippi State was able to navigate Opening Weekend's pressures and teaching moments and turn it into a 3-0 start to the season.
Perhaps not so ironically, it was those who'd been powered by The Dude Effect before that helped lead the way. Reese hit .417 for the weekend, including four extra-base hits and a huge, 400-foot-long, three-run homer in the series finale that turned the ballgame around.
Chance and Stallman both hit over .300 in the series and combined for six hits and six RBIs. Pitcher Ben Davis hurled three strong innings on Friday to notch a save in the Opening Day triumph.
It almost served as a reminder that once you get settled in at The Carnegie Hall of College Baseball, the game indeed slows down for you. It also bodes well for the newcomers who now know firsthand what its like to play under the smoke from the Left Field Lounge and in front of the most passionate fans of the game.
"Even if you played a lot of college baseball before coming here, if you haven't played in this arena, this situation, this stadium…it's tough to do," O'Connor said.
O'Connor knows full well that baseball isn't the same everywhere. It's part of the reason he's now in Maroon and White to begin with. He relishes the chance to wear the M-over-S and oversee a program fueled by so much pageantry and passion.
He's embracing it and leading it in a way that encourages his players to do the same, repeatedly preaching to them the importance of running towards the expectations that surround them and handling things the right way.
"Fun, I would say – that's what [the weekend] was for me," O'Connor said. "I encouraged the players to look at it that way. You can't play this game with clenched fists. As the leader you can't be that way. They will take on the persona of us as leaders."
In the end, State certainly took on the persona of its leader on Friday and Saturday. The Dawgs were winners, just like O'Connor has been throughout the course of his decades-long career.
Even though things weren't always perfect and there were lessons to be learned, MSU found a way. It's a start, and likely a very beneficial one in the long run.
"Part of me on the opening weekend would have liked to have been in a game that maybe wasn't so close," O'Connor said. "But as I told the team, that's good.Â
"Would I love a blowout at some point? Sure I would, and a chance to breathe a little bit. But it was good for those players to be in the fire…Those butterflies get going, the excitement gets going, and in this league, there are a lot of games like that. They need to get used to it and managing those innings when the game is tight."
