Mississippi State Bulldogs News: Baseball rotation set, softball off to stellar start

The spring sports season is here for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. MSU baseball will open their 2025 season this weekend, welcoming the Manhattan Jaspers to Dudy Noble Field. We now know the game times and State's pitching rotation. And in softball, MSU opened up 2025 with some outstanding play down in the Sunshine State.

Mississippi State baseball announces opening weekend pitching rotation

Baseball returns to Mississippi State on Friday, and the Bulldogs have announced their starting pitching rotation for their first series of the year against Manhattan. State is going with a trio of Diamond Dawg veterans on the mound this weekend.

Junior lefthander Pico Kohn will draw the Friday night start for State. Kohn worked his way back from injury in the 2024 season, concluding his sophomore year with a fantastic outing against Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional. Senior righthander Karson Ligon will start Saturday with there being optimism for a step forward from the former Miami-transfer after an up-and-down 2024. And graduate righty Stone Simmons takes the mound on Sunday, finally healthy after missing the last two years.

Game times announced for Mississippi State baseball's series vs Manhattan

With opening weekend here, Mississippi State has announced the game times for Bulldog baseball's series against Manhattan. They'll play Friday at 4:00 PM CT, Saturday at 2:00 PM CT, and Sunday at 1:00 PM CT.

It does look as though rain will be in the forecast throughout the weekend, so that schedule may need to be adjusted to work all three games in.

Mississippi State softball with strong start to season

Over the weekend, Mississippi State softball returned to action, and it was a successful start to their 2025 campaign. The Bulldogs played five games at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, FL, including some high profile opponents.

They returned to Starkville 4-1 with a pair of wins over Top 25 teams in Texas Tech and Nebraska, their lone loss coming to a Top 10 Duke team. Transfer pitcher Raelin Chaffin was the star of the weekend, beginning her Bulldog career with a 4-0 record, 20 strikeouts, and no earned runs in 22.2 innings of work. Chaffin was named SEC Pitcher of the Week and picked up some national Pitcher of the Week honors for her outstanding performance in Florida.

After their hot start to the year, Mississippi State softball is now ranked as high as #17 nationally.