No. 17 MSU Reaches Starkville Regional Finals

Saturday, May 30

Starkville

8 p.m.

Mississippi State

42-17

Cincinnati

38-21

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Cincinnati	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5	8	2
Mississippi State	1	0	0	0	3	4	2	0	X	10	13	1

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

No. 17 MSU Reaches Starkville Regional Finals

May 30, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score Highlights MSU Press Conference Photo Gallery

STARKVILLE - No. 17 Mississippi State pushed itself to the doorstep of another regional championship opportunity Saturday night behind a big swings from its offense, a steady start from Tomas Valincius and another crooked-number surge from its lineup.

Ace Reese homered in the first inning, Reed Stallman drove in three runs and the Diamond Dawgs beat No. 24 Cincinnati 10-5 in the winner's bracket game of the Starkville Regional at Dudy Noble Field.

MSU (42-17) advanced to Sunday's 7 p.m. regional final and will play the winner of Cincinnati and Louisiana on ESPN+. The Bearcats and Ragin' Cajuns play in elimination game slated for 2 p.m. State needs one more win to claim the Starkville Regional title. Sophomore right-hander Ryan McPherson (3-1, 2.70 ERA) will start on the mound for the Diamond Dawgs on Sunday.

The Bulldogs broke open a 1-1 game on Saturday with three runs in the fifth inning, then followed with four more in the sixth and two in the seventh to build a 10-1 lead before Cincinnati made things closer late.

Valincius set the tone on the mound and gave State another strong postseason start. The left-hander struck out the side in the first inning and allowed just one run through seven innings before Cincinnati scratched across two in the eighth. He finished with 10 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings and earned his 11th win of the season.

Mississippi State wasted little time giving him support. Reese launched a solo home run to dead center in the bottom of the first inning to put the Diamond Dawgs in front 1-0. Noah Sullivan followed with a double, but Cincinnati starter Logan Knight escaped further damage.

The Bearcats answered in the second. Enzo Infelise singled, Cal Sefcik followed with a hit off the wall in right and Christian Mitchelle doubled down the left-field line to tie the game at 1-1.

Valincius quickly settled back in. He retired 17 of the next 18 batters after Mitchelle's double. He struck out six through the first three innings to keep Cincinnati from gaining any momentum.

MSU finally broke through in the fifth. Jacob Parker walked and Stallman singled to left center before Kevin Milewski drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Bryce Chance put the Bulldogs back ahead with an infield single that scored Parker, and Gehrig Frei followed with a two-run single to center to stretch State's lead to 4-1.

The Bulldogs kept pouring it on an inning later. Parker was hit by a pitch, Vytas Valincius walked and Stallman ripped an RBI double to left to score Parker. Vytas Valincius came home on a wild pitch, and Milewski punctuated the inning with a two-run homer to right that pushed Mississippi State's lead to 8-1.

State added two more in the seventh after Sullivan walked and Parker was hit by another pitch. Vytas Valincius was also hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Stallman doubled to right to score Sullivan and Parker.

Stallman finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs, while Milewski drove in two. Frei also had two RBIs, Reese homered and scored, and Parker reached base three times and scored three runs.

Cincinnati tried to chip away late. Ryan Tyranski had an RBI single and Jack Natili drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth before the Bearcats scored twice more in the ninth. Ben Davis limited the damage by getting the final outs, including back-to-back strikeouts to end it.

The win moved Mississippi State to 2-0 in the regional after Friday's 10-1 win over Lipscomb and put the Bulldogs in control of the weekend heading into Sunday night.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching 'HailStateBB' on X, Facebook and Instagram.