Mississippi State
Texas A&M
Top 15 Teams Clash To Close Regular Season
May 13, 2026 | Baseball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Mississippi State has spent Brian O'Connor's first season in Starkville proving it can stack up with the best teams in the country. The Diamond Dawgs get one more regular-season chance to sharpen that résumé this weekend with a top-15 Southeastern Conference series at Blue Bell Park.
No. 13 MSU opens a three-game set Thursday at No. 10 Texas A&M, beginning a regular-season finale that carries postseason implications for both clubs. The Bulldogs enter 38-14 overall and 15-12 in SEC play, while the Aggies are 37-12 and 16-10 in league action. Thursday and Friday's games are scheduled for 6 p.m. on SEC Network+, while Saturday's finale is set for 11 a.m. on SEC Network.
State arrives in College Station looking to bounce back after dropping the final two games of last weekend's series against then-No. 6 Auburn. MSU opened that series with a 10-3 win behind another dominant start from left-hander Tomas Valincius, but the Tigers answered with a one-run win Friday and a run-rule victory Saturday.
Mississippi State has already shown it can win away from Dudy Noble Field. The Diamond Dawgs are 9-5 in true road games and have series victories at Ole Miss and South Carolina, along with a road win at Texas earlier this month.
The matchup also gives MSU a chance to create some separation in a tightly contested all-time series. Mississippi State leads Texas A&M 24-23, though the Aggies won the most recent meeting, 9-0, in last year's SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama. The Bulldogs' last win over Texas A&M came one year earlier in Hoover, a 5-3 victory on May 22, 2024.
State will send one of the SEC's best arms to the mound in Thursday's opener. Valincius is scheduled to face Texas A&M left-hander Ethan Darden in a matchup of southpaws. Valincius enters 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA, 105 strikeouts and only 16 walks in 75 innings. Darden is 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA, 20 strikeouts and 12 walks.
Valincius has been the Bulldogs' tone-setter for much of the season. The Virginia transfer has struck out double-digit batters four times in SEC play, including a career-high 14 against Vanderbilt and 13 last week against Auburn. In that outing against the Tigers, Valincius worked 6 2/3 innings, allowed three runs, did not issue a walk and threw a career-high 112 pitches.
MSU will turn to right-hander Duke Stone in Friday's second game. Stone is 6-1 with a 4.65 ERA and 85 strikeouts over 62 innings. His season has included a breakout SEC performance at South Carolina, where he set career highs with six innings and 12 strikeouts in a win that helped the Bulldogs claim a road sweep.
Saturday's starter remains to be announced for State, and Texas A&M has not announced starters for the final two games.
Mississippi State's pitching staff enters the weekend with a 4.04 ERA and has been one of the nation's top strikeout groups. The Bulldogs have punched out 581 batters in 448 innings while holding opponents to a .232 batting average. Texas A&M counters with a powerful offense that owns a .304 batting average, .424 on-base percentage and .574 slugging percentage.
The Aggies' power will be one of the central challenges for MSU's staff. Texas A&M has hit 108 home runs, ranking among the national leaders, while State has 91. The Aggies have also drawn 282 walks, giving them a dangerous combination of patience and power.
But the Bulldogs have plenty of offensive firepower of their own.
MSU is hitting .313 as a team with a .412 on-base percentage and .538 slugging percentage. State leads the SEC and ranks 11th nationally with 117 doubles, and the Bulldogs' lineup has been especially dangerous when it strings together extra-base hits. Ace Reese leads the conference with 21 doubles, while Bryce Chance is second with 18.
Reese has continued to anchor the order. The junior third baseman is batting .335 with 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and 39 extra-base hits. He was especially productive last week, hitting .632 with two doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs.
Chance has been one of the SEC's steadiest bats. The graduate outfielder is batting .371 with 63 hits, 18 doubles, two home runs and 32 RBIs. He has also struck out only 14 times all season and enters the series on a nine-game hitting streak. Chance helped spark MSU's recent surge of grand slams, hitting one at Texas on May 3 and another against Auburn on May 7.
That run of grand slams has become one of the Bulldogs' most notable late-season trends. Mississippi State hit grand slams in three consecutive games last week, with Jacob Parker adding one against Nicholls between Chance's blasts. Parker, a freshman outfielder from Purvis, has 11 home runs and 45 RBIs while batting .318.
Noah Sullivan gives the Bulldogs another proven presence in the order. The graduate designated hitter is hitting .330 with eight homers and 37 RBIs and is 10-for-11 on stolen-base attempts. He also had success against Texas A&M last season, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
The series also marks another major test in O'Connor's first year leading the program. Mississippi State hired the national championship-winning coach after last season, and the Bulldogs have quickly positioned themselves as a postseason factor. State owns 38 wins, a top-15 ranking and an RPI listed at No. 11 in the game notes entering the week.
The Diamond Dawgs have built that résumé through a demanding SEC path. MSU swept Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, South Carolina and LSU, beat Southern Miss in a midweek matchup, took a game at Texas and opened the Auburn series with a convincing win over another top-10 opponent.
Texas A&M represents another chance to add to that list.
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