The Mississippi State-Louisiana Tech exhibition: Familiarity But Not Frequency

They haven't played in the regular season since 2019, but Mississippi State meets Louisiana Tech on November 1 for the second exhibition in three years.

By Doug Kyle

Mississippi State Head Baseball Coach Brian O’Connor announced in August a second fall baseball exhibition for his new team, this one at home against Louisiana Tech on Saturday, November 1.

Like the October 18 venture to Pensacola, FL, to face Florida State on the same Saturday the MSU football team plays a road game at Florida in Gainesville, the Dudy Noble Field event shares the date with a gridiron contest at Arkansas.

And, while there is some familiarity matching up against the Ruston, LA, version of Bulldogs coached by former State assistant Lane Burroughs, there isn't much official frequency lately, the two teams last meeting in the 2019 regular season, a 7-3 MSU Bulldogs win.

In fact, the most recent the teams have been diamond opponents of any kind was in a Fall Ball 2023 exhibition, hosted by Tech at J.C. Love Field/Pat Patterson Park, AKA “The Love Shack.” As is the frequent practice, two seven-inning scrimmages were held, the hosts winning the first one and the visitors from Starkville taking the second.

While the November exhibition will not count for anything other than coaching evaluations, 2026 season plans, and fan fodder, the teams have met on-the-record 54 times 1905-2019, Mississippi State holding a 38-15 edge and the 2003 game ending in a 5-5 tie, called at Dudy Noble Field after six innings.

MSU leads 22-5 in Starkville and 14-10 in Ruston. Two games, both State wins, have been played at neutral sites, a 2004 game in Jackson, MS, and a 1978 NCAA regional matchup in Arlington, TX, Coach Ron Polk’s first MSU team he took to the tournament. Incidentally, Tech was also the first team Polk faced after becoming MSU head coach, a doubleheader split in early March 1976.

Of the 10 victories by LA Tech at home, probably the most bizarre happened in April 2006. State took not only a #3 ranking into Ruston, it took a 12-4 lead after seven innings. Things weren’t even close to dire when Tech tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the 8^th inning to close the game to 12-6.

But, in the bottom of the 9^th, the wheels came off. After the first two batters were out on infield ground balls, the homestanding Bulldogs parlayed six singles, two doubles, and a walk into seven runs, winning 13-12 before State could ever record the final out. The box score showed 1624 in attendance, although the number of Tech fans later claiming they were there, and didn’t leave at 4-12, was likely exponentially greater.

The stunner followed an 11-1 State win over Tech at home a month before and remains one of the most baffling finishes in the history of Mississippi State baseball, a painful epitome of the old saying, “That’s baseball.”

Fast forwarding back to the here and now, Mississippi State is playing its second and NCAA-mandated final exhibition of Fall Ball 2025. The Bulldogs earlier met Florida State on October 18 in Pensacola, FL at the Blue Wahoos AA minor league ballpark, battling to a standoff on the day after 14 innings.

Here are summarized statistics from the event that was a hard sellout (reserved seats depleted in 80 minutes) and drew unofficial estimates of more than 6,000 in attendance.

Mississippi State 6-12-1

Florida State 6-11-0

HITTING

Blake Bevis 3-7

Jacob Parker 2-3

Gatlin Sanders 1-2

Nick Frontino 1-2

Bryce Chance 1-3

Gehrig Frei 1-3

Noah Sullivan 1-3

James Nunnallee 1-3

Drew Wyers 1-3

PITCHING

Ryan McPherson 2.0 IP, 2 BB, 1 K

Tomas Valincius 2.0 IP, 0 BB, 4 K

Ben Davis 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Dane Burns 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Tyler Pitzer 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K Charlie Foster 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Duke Stone 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

William Kirk, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Jack Bauer 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 E

Parker Rhodes, 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

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