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Mississippi State Baseball: The Bulldogs Must beat Missouri and LSU

By Ethan Lee

STARKVILLE, MS - SEPTEMBER 08: Mississippi State fans wave cowbells in the first quarter of a NCAA college football game against Auburn on September 8, 2012 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images)
STARKVILLE, MS - SEPTEMBER 08: Mississippi State fans wave cowbells in the first quarter of a NCAA college football game against Auburn on September 8, 2012 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images) /
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Mississippi State Baseball Must Find a Way to Beat Missouri and LSU

There’s no way to sugarcoat how bad of a start this season has been for Mississippi State baseball. MSU got swept by Southern Miss in dominant fashion. Shortly after that, disaster struck again.

The Bulldogs then lost their head coach after a mess of rumors of controversial behavior off the field. Then this past weekend, MSU was swept again, this time by the Vanderbilt Commodores to open conference play.

Now the Bulldogs are about to take a difficult road trip. This one a fair bit more daunting than the one across Texas from earlier this month. Mississippi State is on its way up to Columbia, Missouri for a series with a Mizzou team that is 17-5 this year.

Following that, the Bulldogs play at Nicholls State next Tuesday, then have a series in Baton Rouge with the LSU Tigers. LSU hasn’t been as sharp as they have in years past, but the Tigers are 15-5 when playing at home and they’re still coached by Paul Mainieri. That’s not an easy series for MSU historically. And it won’t be easy again this year.

Mississippi State must find a way to win both of these series. If they can’t do that and gain momentum, they’ll hit a wall in the month of April.

The road only gets rougher from there.

MSU’s stretch of SEC opponents in April is insanely difficult. The month will certainly challenge the Bulldogs and make their road trip against Mizzou and LSU look like a cake walk.

The Bulldogs will host Ole Miss (who is 20-2 on the year), travel to Auburn (they’re 19-3 and are 17-2 at home), and then play Arkansas in Starkville (16-4 and currently on a 6 game winning streak). After those three, MSU then gets the pleasure of bring Texas A&M to town. The Aggies are 18-4

Mississippi State’s upcoming slate is not easy. And the Bulldogs have been performing poorly lately. They got two badly needed wins against Alcorn State and Texas Southern, but the upcoming opponents in the SEC will determine whether or not this season can be turned around.

Assuming the Bulldogs can pull a rabbit out of a hat against Missouri and LSU on the road, Mississippi State will have something of a chance in April. These next two series are crucial for the Bulldogs.

It’s already an uphill climb for MSU to get back into this season. The team, the administration, the coaches, and everyone else already know that fact. But if MSU can’t win this weekend and the next, then it’ll be almost impossible for State to do so.

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