Alabama Baseball's All-Mississippi Week: Just a Minute

The No. 12 Alabama baseball team has won 27 of its 33 games through the first week of April. The season is barreling toward the home stretch, and this week, the Crimson Tide's opponents both have one thing in common.

On Tuesday, Alabama has a home game against No. 23 Southern Miss at 6 p.m. The Golden Eagles defeated the Crimson Tide in Hattiesburg last spring. Once SEC play ramps back up over the weekend, it will be Mississippi State on the schedule; the Bulldogs will also come to Tuscaloosa from Friday to Sunday.

A ranked matchup is always a big opportunity. No SEC team ever truly hurts for them, but it is a perk when the midweek rolls around and brings a chance to knock off a top 25 team with it. Southern Miss was almost bounced from the rankings after a rough weekend at Marshall; it was No. 13 last week.

Mississippi State is at a point where every weekend matters. The Bulldogs are 3-9 in the SEC at present, far off from last season, where Chris Lemonis' team was in the conversation to be a regional host. With conference wins at a premium, State still needs more in 2025.

The upcoming weekend will also serve as a rematch of a May 2024 series that the Bulldogs won 2-1. What's on paper from that series results-wise is far from the whole story, as severely hampered might not do justice to describe how a bout with food poisoning that swept through the Crimson Tide's roster affected the team.

Alabama is 7-5 in league play despite losing its last SEC series at Auburn. A sweep of Mississippi State would give Rob Vaughn and his squad double-digit SEC wins at the halfway point of the conference schedule, an enviable position by any measure and one from which good things can happen.