Since 2013, Mike Glavine has served as head coach of the Northeastern baseball team. In that time, a northern program has reached the Men’s College World Series on just four occasions. Friday, when the first pitch between Northeastern and Mississippi State is fired home, the Huskies’ 2025 march to put northern baseball on the national map will officially begin.
Over three months after this season’s inaugural contest, 19th-ranked Northeastern carries an NCAA-leading 27-game winning streak into the Tallahassee regional. There, the hard-hitting Huskies will attempt to reach their first ever NCAA Super Regional against Bethune-Cookman, the aforementioned Mississippi State Bulldogs and the hosts, Florida State.
Throughout the weekend at Dick Howser Stadium, Northeastern will look to build on the momentum gathered from a historic season. In amassing a 48-9 record in 2025, including a 25-2 bill in Coastal Athletic Association play, Glavine’s squad established new program win records alongside a CAA Tournament title that secured the 11th NCAA tournament appearance in program history.
Capturing that CAA title called on the resolve of a team who had grown accustomed to winning games by large margins, with nine victories coming via run-rule across the regular season and conference tournament. The last of those abridged victories came against CAA foe UNC Wilmington in the semifinal, against whom the Huskies later manufactured a come-from-behind win the next day to claim the tournament title and punch their ticket to Tallahassee.
Northeastern’s first test pits them against Mississippi State, who concluded the 2025 campaign with a 34-21 record while playing .500 baseball in SEC contests. Winners of the 2021 Men’s College World Series under head coach Chris Lemonis, Mississippi State dismissed Lemonis on April 28 after wielding a 7-14 record through conference play.
Since Lemonis’ departure, the Bulldogs have torn through opponents, posting a 9-2 finish to the season. However, their most recent game sealed a one-and-done exit from the SEC tournament, as they dropped the opener to Texas A&M by a score of 9-0.
At the forefront of the team’s late resurgence is sophomore infielder Ace Reese. The Houston transfer is slashing .371 at the plate, leading qualified Bulldogs hitters alongside a team-best 18 doubles, 21 home runs and 66 RBI. He enters Friday’s contest with a 22-game hitting streak.
His offensive production, alongside three other Bulldogs who have achieved double-digit home runs, contributes to a Mississippi State offense that is averaging 9.8 runs per game in its last 11 games and boasts the 11th-highest slugging percentage in the NCAA.
On the other side of the ball, the State pitching staff holds a 4.44 ERA – the 30th-best in the nation – with 21 different hurlers seeing action. Senior southpaw Pico Kohn has carried the heaviest workload, turning in 76 ⅓ innings pitched across 14 starts. Kohn has delivered at least five innings except for two starts this season, once in a loss against Alabama and once more in a 25-7 rout of Missouri.
Kohn, however, will not take to the hill for the Bulldogs Friday night. Instead, reliever Ben Davis will kick things off in Tallahassee. The junior is in his first season with Mississippi State after transferring from Itawamba Community College, where he featured as both a pitcher and a catcher. After 52 ⅓ innings pitched this season, the right-hander sits at a 3.96 ERA and averages north of two innings pitched per outing. He has amassed 58 strikeouts to 22 walks, and has allowed eight extra base hits on the season, two of which left the yard as home runs.
Davis’ most recent outing came against Texas A&M in the SEC tournament, where he came into a 6-0 game in the second inning. He delivered three innings of work, allowing one earned run on three hits while fanning one hitter.
In the other contest, Florida State and Bethune-Cookman square off at 3 p.m. Friday. The ninth-ranked Seminoles are hosting a regional for the 37th time in school history, while Bethune-Cookman has played in the Tallahassee regional on five previous occasions. The Wildcats will hope for some better luck this time around, as the program is yet to pick up a win at the Tallahassee regional in every trip it has made there.
If Northeastern wants to proceed to the winners bracket, baserunning just might be the difference. It is no secret the Huskies pitching staff has fueled much of the team’s success this season, with a nationwide-best 17 shutouts, 1.04 WHIP and NCAA-2nd-best 3.49 strikeouts to walk ratio. At the same time, Mississippi State holds the nation’s third-best strikeouts per nine with 11.8, possibly offering an unfamiliar pitchers’ duel to the Huskies.
While the Bulldogs have stolen just 42 bases on 50 attempts, the Huskies have nabbed 192 bags on 236 attempts through 57 games this season. Mississippi State may not have difficulty scoring runs as of late, but in a close game, the Huskies’ ability to manufacture run-scoring opportunities could prove crucial. With opponents successful in 85% of attempts against the Bulldogs this season, the Huskies just might mark their territory against the other dogs Friday.
At the same time, Northeastern requires effective pitching to compete. Friday starter Will Jones boasts an 11-0 record alongside a 1.82 ERA across 69 ⅓ innings pitched this season. Huskies fans have grown accustomed to junior right-hander Charlie Walker relieving most of Jones’ starts, with the star duo often the only pitchers needed for Northeastern’s staff to get the job done on Fridays.
The Huskies now get set for the first matchup with Mississippi State in program history Friday, with first pitch set for 7:30 p.m. Northern programs might be historically outnumbered in college baseball, but the journey that waits ahead is yet to be determined for this Huskies team.
Luke Graham and Zeno Minotti will be on your call live from Tallahassee, with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 pm on WRBB 104.9 FM.