Mississippi
Where Mississippi State baseball stands in updated NCAA Tournament bracket projections
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball remains on the bubble for hosting an NCAA Tournament regional.
However, the latest bracket projections still have the No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) forecast to host a regional at Dudy Noble Field for the first time since 2021.
MSU has lost its last two series against Texas and Auburn. The Bulldogs start a series at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10) on May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).
Here is a look at the updated NCAA Tournament projections for Mississippi State entering the Texas A&M series.
Mississippi State baseball NCAA Tournament projections
Aria Gerson of The Tennessean has Mississippi State hosting as the No. 12 national seed. Kansas is in the regional as a No. 2 seed with No. 3 Louisiana and No. 4 Indiana State.
D1Baseball also projects MSU as the No. 12 seed. Included in the regional would be No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, No. 3 NC State and No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana.
Baseball America projects Mississippi State as the No. 13 national seed. In that Starkville Regional would be No. 2 seed Wake Forest, No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Bethune-Cookman.
Mississippi State NCAA Tournament resume
Mississippi State baseball has an RPI at No. 12 as of May 12. That’s down three spots from the previous week.
The Bulldogs are 9-11 in Quad 1 games, 5-3 in Quad 2 games and 24-0 in Quads 3 and 4. Four of those Quad 1 wins are against Ole Miss. MSU’s strength of schedule is ranked No. 8.
The Texas A&M series will be three more Quad 1 games.
Mississippi State’s SEC series wins against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, LSU and South Carolina are all against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings.
Mississippi State baseball NCAA Tournament history under Brian O’Connor
Brian O’Connor is a first-year coach at Mississippi State, so it hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament with him. MSU won the 2021 national championship under coach Chris Lemonis, but he was fired during the 2025 season.
Mississippi State has made the NCAA Tournament in the last two seasons as No. 2 seeds, losing in the Charlottesville Regional final and the Tallahassee Regional final.
O’Connor was the Virginia coach for 22 seasons, reaching 18 NCAA Tournaments, nine super regionals, seven College World Series and winning the 2015 national championship.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.