College baseball’s Egg Bowl will take place this weekend when No. 6 Mississippi State travels to Oxford for a three-game series against Ole Miss. The matchup shapes up as a statement series for the Rebels and a road test for a Bulldogs squad that has looked every bit like a national contender.
Ole Miss stands at 19-6 overall and 3-3 in SEC play heading into the weekend, riding the momentum of their first conference series win of the year. The Rebels took two of three from No. 15 Kentucky at Swayze Field last weekend. Thanks to this win, they are ranked No. 18 in the country.
The Rebels won 5-0 on Thursday, March 19, before falling 1-3 a day later. In the series finale, they rallied past the Wildcats, winning 12-9. Overall, this was a gritty, character-building series win that showcased what this team is capable of when it is clicking; however, Ole Miss took a 6-2 loss against Memphis on Tuesday night.
Mississippi State, meanwhile, is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Bulldogs swept Vanderbilt last weekend, capping the series with a 17-7 win, which featured eight combined home runs.
They are coming off a 12-0, run-rule win over No. 11 Southern Miss. The Bulldogs sit at 21-4 overall and 4-2 in SEC play.
Bulldogs head coach Brian O’Connor came to Mississippi State from Virginia, where he served as head coach from 2004-25. He enters next weekend’s series with an overall collegiate record of 934-392-2.
The Bulldogs were predicted to finish third in the SEC in the preseason coaches’ poll, and, so far, the team is exceeding those expectations. The roster retained key holdovers from last season while also integrating new pieces. Ace Reese leads the team with a 1.181 OPS, 30 hits, 11 doubles, six home runs and 31 RBIs, while Bryce Chance is hitting .431 with seven stolen bases. Braden Holcomb leads the club with 11 home runs and 33 RBIs.
Ole Miss enters the series with a clear identity forming around its pitching staff and a lineup with legitimate pop. Hunter Elliott, the left-handed ace, has been dominant. He pitched 6 ⅓ innings of shutout baseball against Kentucky on Thursday, contributing to a 5-0 Rebel win during which Tristan Bissetta homered twice. Elliott is now 3-0 on the season.
Will Furniss paced Ole Miss offensively in the series finale with three hits, while Bissetta remained hot at the plate with a homer. The Rebels have shown they can manufacture big innings in bunches — which will be a necessity against a rich Bulldog pitching staff.
Despite their recent success, the Rebels have struggled with leaving runners stranded on base. Though they won the series against Kentucky, they scored in spurts; many of their runs came off big hits rather than sustained, steady hitting at the plate.
Mississippi State pitcher Tomas Valincius has been arguably the best pitcher in the SEC. He went seven innings against Vanderbilt on Saturday, allowing just two hits and zero earned runs while striking out 14. He is now 5-0 on the season.
For Ole Miss, this is the biggest home series of the season so far. A series win against a Top 10 opponent at Swayze would vault the Rebels into the national conversation and provide legitimate momentum for a team that appears to be rounding into form at the right time.
For Mississippi State, this trip is about consummating their status as a juggernaut regardless of setting. The Bulldogs have been dominant at home all season, but the road is where national titles are built. A series win in Oxford would all but confirm this squad as one of the premier programs in the country this season.
The first game of the series begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 27. SECN+ will broadcast the game.
