Never Too Soon to Look Ahead

The MSU baseball schedule is unofficially out. AND here it is!

February 19-20-21 Rhode Island

February 23 UAB

February 26-27-28 Southeastern Louisiana

March 2 South Alabama

March 5-6-7 Michigan State and Southeast Missouri (BankFirst Challenge)

March 10 Western Kentucky

March 12-13-14 Oklahoma, UCLA and TAMCC (Corpus Christi, Texas)

March 16-17 Mississippi Valley

March 19-20-21 at Florida

March 24 Memphis

March 26-27-28 Georgia

March 30 Ole Miss (Governor's Cup)

April 2-3-4 at South Carolina

April 6 Jackson State

April 9-10-11 Arkansas

April 16-17-18 Tennessee (Super Bulldog Weekend)

April 20 Alcorn State

April 23-24-25 at Alabama

April 30-May 1-2 Ole Miss

May 4 Jackson State (Trustmark Park)

May 5 Southern Miss (Trustmark Park)

May 7-8-9 at Auburn

May 12 Northwestern State

May 14-15-16 Vanderbilt

May 18 at Southern Miss

May 20-21-22 at LSU

May 26-27-28-29-30 SEC Tournament (Hoover)

Now my thoughts:

• The first thing I noticed was that the Governor's Cup has been moved up a couple of weeks or so. I think this is a great idea by whomever came up with this. Personally, that's Easter Week- or around that time- and it can get pretty stressful for me. This is about the time that the Governor's Cup/Mayor's Trophy had traditionally been held anyway, so I like that to. But aside from my personal drouthers, this is good for everyone else to. The M-Braves use this as a huge promotional event for the upcoming season. Now they will have people coming out from the get go instead of having some people coming to smaller events/games here and there and then the "big game". I think it's good for MSU and Ole Miss to because with the game later in the year, it kind of lingers on the schedule. Many times, it has been so late in the season that State and Ole Miss have already played their season series, and the game is better served being played before the season series. Also, should State or Ole Miss have "bad" or "disappointing" seasons, however they define that, at least this game will be played before all hope is totally lost. It means that those fans with that sliver of hope are just a little bit more likely to go to the game.
• Sticking with my Trustmark Park theme- I'm happy to see MSU and USM play a game in Pearl, and I'm also happy that MSU is playing Jackson State in Pearl. The fact that the games are back to back is a pretty good idea to. MSU will be staying in town, I assume, and that will provide an opportunity for outreach to the MSU fans in Jackson, and MSU baseball needs support right now. And yes, I know the issues behind MSU/USM playing football, but there's no reason why the shouldn't play baseball in the Jackson area. I would be really, really worried about the USM game if Ron Polk was still the coach because I know that he would pitch MSU's top midweek pitcher against Jackson State and then some walk-on against USM.
• Super Bulldog Weekend is against Tennessee next year. I think this is pretty good scheduling. UT is a team that is probably going to be beatable in baseball, and of all the SEC East teams, I would say that UT is the most "natural" rival for MSU. Greg Byrne- Game. Set. Match.
• A lot of people will notice that there are a lot of SWAC teams on the schedule- Jackson State, Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State. Again, good scheduling if you're coming off of two losing seasons and need to win to help rebuild your program. Yes, State may have some RPI issues next year because of this, but at this point wins take precedence over style points. I'm also betting that the SWAC schools will play in whatever conditions are present. Including sunshine- unlike Nicholls State. Some of the Polk croonies will talk about how Polk "scheduled good teams", but he certainly had his share of Belhaven's and Mississippi College's through the years to. And if anyone worries too much about RPI and stength of schedule, check out the University of Virginia's schedule. It seemed to work out OK for them. And remember for some unknown reason that can not be explained, they did not put in a bid for a regional, much less a Super Regional. Maybe Better Than Ezra was in town.
• Hey, it's not like State has all cupcakes. Good move again by getting MSU into the Corpus Christi Tournament. Oklahoma and UCLA are hardly teams that should not be taken lightly, and will help the RPI. Also, the (insert name of bank here) classic has Michigan State and Southeast Missouri State, which are two teams that are probably going to be decent.
• Enough of the preseason stuff, what about the SEC season? First things first, Kentucky is replaced by Florida. As would be expected, it's a pretty tough slate. Ole Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, and Vanderbilt is a pretty good home schedule. State has to go to LSU to end the season, and that could be tough depending on if something is on the line- like a SEC Tournament berth.

All in all, I would say it's a pretty good schedule, and I think it's a schedule that will be challenging for MSU, but there are also some respite type games that could help- especially the young pitchers. As always, I'm looking forward to it.