Missed opportunities plague MSU as they're swept by Georgia in Starkville

No. 4 Mississippi State falls to No. 5 Georgia in three-game series at home

Apr. 5, 2026 at 3:40pm

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No. 4 Mississippi State was swept by No. 5 Georgia in a three-game series at Starkville, with the Bulldogs unable to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities throughout the weekend. MSU left 10, 13, and 9 runners on base in the respective games, ultimately falling 5-8 in extra innings in the series finale.

Why it matters

The series loss is the first time Mississippi State has been swept at home since the start of SEC play last year, and drops their record against top-10 opponents to 2-7 on the season. The sweep also cements Georgia's status as a top-5 team in the country after defeating their highest-ranked opponent so far this year.

The details

In the final game, MSU took an early 3-0 lead but let it slip away, eventually tying the game 5-5 in the late innings. However, a three-run home run in extra innings sank the home team Bulldogs. MSU head coach Brian O'Connor cited the team's inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities as the defining characteristic of the series, with the Bulldogs leaving numerous runners on base in each game.

  • The three-game series was played Thursday through Saturday due to the Easter holiday.
  • Game Three was played at 10 a.m. on Saturday due to incoming weekend weather.

The players

Brian O'Connor

The head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team.

Noah Sullivan

A Mississippi State player who was ejected from Game Three and will miss the next game due to suspension.

Ryder Woodson

A Mississippi State player who had a potential go-ahead home run robbed at the wall in Game Three.

Ace Reese

A Mississippi State player who had a potential walk-off hit robbed in Game Three, and acknowledged the team's inability to deliver the 'knockout blows' when opportunities arose.

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What they’re saying

“You see it all over the place in this league. People get swept and things like that. I talked to the team about taking each game as its own individual game, and I thought Duke Stone went out today and attacked them and was pitching in traffic quite a bit, like he did last week at Ole Miss, and pitched out of it and managed it and did a really nice job. There's bright spots, but just not enough. I believe we got away from what got us to this point, for whatever reason. We have to own that, stand up as men and acknowledge what happened, and get back on the right track and play winning, Mississippi State baseball.”

— Brian O'Connor, Head Coach, Mississippi State Bulldogs

“I talked to them specifically about that, what a winners' mentality looks like, and we just have to be better from that standpoint. We have to grow in that area. We showed some immaturity this weekend and Georgia exposed that. Georgia's got a really good team, and today we had opportunities again and just couldn't get that big hit to take the lead.”

— Brian O'Connor, Head Coach, Mississippi State Bulldogs

“Certainly, when your starter goes out in Game One and only gets through two innings, you use a lot of guys in that game. Our pen was stretched a bit, and credit to them, they exposed that. What we didn't do, when se saw their pitchers a second time around, we didn't capitalize on the opportunities.”

— Brian O'Connor, Head Coach, Mississippi State Bulldogs

“Those guys have been coming through the weekends before, it just didn't happen this weekend.”

— Ace Reese, Mississippi State Player

“You can't dwell on it. We're going to take our off day tomorrow and get away from the field, and then get back after it on Monday.”

— Ace Reese, Mississippi State Player

What’s next

Mississippi State will look to bounce back from the sweep when they return to action on Monday.

The takeaway

This series loss highlights the challenges Mississippi State has faced against top-10 opponents this season, with the team now 2-7 in such matchups. However, the Bulldogs remain confident they can learn from this experience and get back on track as they look ahead to the rest of their SEC schedule.