Fresh off back-to-back Southeastern Conference series wins over South Carolina at home and Alabama on the road, the Bulldogs come into another SEC weekend back inside the projected regional conversation with D1 Baseball, listing them as a three seed in the Tallahassee Regional. The buzz around Starkville is starting to pick up as the Bulldogs welcome the struggling Florida Gators to Dudy Noble for a three-game slate beginning on Friday night.

At this point in the season, Mississippi State controls its destiny. It has one of the greatest potentials for seed growth if they can find a way to keep winning games they’re supposed to and being competitive in the series against better lineups. With Texas, LSU, and Oklahoma in the rearview mirror, the Bulldogs have a much more manageable remaining SEC slate as they play host to the Gators this weekend; road series against Auburn and Missouri remain while awaiting Kentucky and Ole Miss in May for three-game series at the Dude to jumpstart May. A series win over Florida this weekend would give the Bulldogs an extra shot in the momentum arm to finish the season on a high note as the Bulldogs look to make a deep run in Hoover while preparing for a magical ride to the College World Series for the first time since winning the National Championship in 2021.

So, what do the Bulldogs need to do to maintain that momentum heading into the postseason? The easy answer is to continue to find ways to win SEC series and midweek games. It doesn’t matter how it looks; win. Winning is a lot easier said than done; even with a manageable schedule to finish the regular season, the Bulldogs will face adversity in all the remaining series, except the road series against Mizzou.

Right now, Mississippi State is 5-10 in SEC play and 23-14 overall. With the 5-10 Southeastern Conference record heading into the weekend, the Bulldogs are 13th in the standings. If the season ended today, they would have the 13th seed in the SEC with a game against Texas A&M on Tuesday morning. Plenty of baseball remains, with three winnable games against the Gators this weekend. With three wins, the Bulldogs would improve to 8-10 in league play and 26-14 overall. On the other hand, Florida comes into Starkville at 4-11 in SEC play, looking to play spoiler as they start an ascent from the depths of the Southeastern Conference.

Mississippi State and Florida will play game one of the series on Friday night. The first pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Photo Credits- Mississippi State Baseball on X