| Tuesday, April 7, 2026 |
| MSU implements tool to help students with decision making, career planning | |
 | Mississippi State is pointing future and current students to a new university resource to help explore academic programs and select a major. MSU is introducing Major Maps, a year-by-year roadmap containing information about each undergraduate major at the university. The online tool can help prospective students and their families understand what a major offers and what to expect from each academic pathway toward a bachelor's degree. The information guide also is useful for career planning as it shows how each major positions graduates for future opportunities. "Students and families alike are asking thoughtful questions about the value of a degree and how it connects to future opportunities. Major Maps helps answer these questions by presenting clear, consistent information about what students will study, how they can enrich that experience, and where that path can lead after graduation," said MSU Provost and Executive Vice President David Shaw. |
| Education: MSU EcoCAR team hosts Spring Vehicle Showcase Ride and Drive | |
 | Mississippi State University's EcoCAR team hosted its Spring Vehicle Showcase Ride and Drive last week, giving campus leadership, partners and guests an up-close look at the team's award-winning electric vehicle. The two-hour showcase highlighted the team's work in the EcoCAR EV Challenge, a four-year collegiate engineering competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, MathWorks and other industry leaders. Ride and Drive participants included MSU President Mark E. Keenum, Senior Vice Provost Brett Fountain, Bagley College of Engineering Dean David Ford, Associate Dean for Academics Robert Green, CAVS Director Clay Walden and T.K. Martin Center partners, including Director Kassee Stratton and Occupational Therapist Eric Knox. "This event showcases the extraordinary talent and dedication of our students," said Ford. "Through EcoCAR, they are gaining hands-on experience with cutting-edge vehicle technologies while working alongside industry leaders to shape the future of mobility." |
| From beaver rescue to big screen: MSU scientist's work informs new movie 'Hoppers' | |
 | When Pixar came calling for help bringing beavers to life in its new animated film "Hoppers," Mississippi State scientist Holley Muraco was ready. Muraco, an assistant research professor with MSU's Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at the Coastal Research and Extension Center in Biloxi, was invited to Pixar as an educational consultant after her hands-on work rehabilitating a rescued North American beaver named Tulip gained widespread attention. "'Hoppers' has sparked a lot of interest in beavers, and it's been a privilege collaborating with Pixar on their educational initiatives around the movie," she said of the film released this past month. "It's a fun, funny movie for all ages, and it has a great environmental message about human and animal co-existence." |
| Final steel beam raised on Mississippi Cyber and Technology Center structure | |
| Photo: Scott Willard, Mississippi State University Research and Economic Development vice president, delivers remarks during the Mississippi Cyber and Technology Center "Topping Out" event at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, April 2, 2026. The 100,000-square-foot center is a statewide collaboration with Mississippi State University and Keesler Air Force Base and serves as the headquarters for the Mississippi Cyber initiative, offering training, research, and secure office space. |
| Researchers discuss tipping points with Bonnet Carré Spillway | |
 | New scientific reports say smarter spillway management could save New Orleans and Mississippi's oyster industry. The findings were presented to the Harrison County Board of Supervisors on Monday. For years, opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway has meant protecting New Orleans from flooding, but at a steep cost to Mississippi's coast. The new reports say it doesn't have to be that way. The studies were conducted by scientists at the Northern Gulf Institute and the University of Southern Mississippi. Researchers identified a critical tipping point: when salinity in the Mississippi Sound drops below two parts per thousand for more than two weeks, oysters die. "If they operate the Bonnet Carré Spillway and potentially other spillways to minimize impacts by just operating it for three weeks at a time, we actually get win-wins. Everyone wins. We protect New Orleans. We protect our oysters. The marine resources for Mississippi and Alabama are protected for our generations to come," said Paul Mickle of Mississippi State University. |
| Community Profile: Sullivan still keeping time, with music or buses | |
| When Starkville High School's choir rolled up to the state choral convention in Hattiesburg in November, other teachers there were a little surprised to see Shawn Sullivan driving the bus. "There have been a few times he's been our bus driver," SHS Choir Director Jennifer Davis said. "Other choir directors are like, ... 'Is that who I think it is?' And I say, 'Yeah, that's our band director.'" Sullivan will soon become much more familiar with Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District's buses. Next fall, one of the state's best-known and most decorated band directors will trade in his conductor's wand to become director of transportation. "I've been doing this for 30 years," Sullivan said. "I just felt it was time to transition to something different in life." |
| A common pest could wreak havoc across forests already vulnerable from January's ice storm | |
 | January's ice storm stressed out trees, making it harder for them to ward off disease and insects. It may have also created an environment where species of pine park beetles that have been documented for centuries, especially ips and southern pine beetles, can flourish and attack vulnerable evergreens. Landowners who want to tackle the problem on their property should determine what type of pine beetle they're battling. "If you've already got a lot of ips beetles now in March and April, that's a real concern," said Butch Bailey, an Extension Forester for Mississippi State University. "You might need to be more aggressive in your treatment. If you had that same amount of impact in October, November, we usually tell you just kind of, you know, just chill out. It'll probably go away this winter." Bailey said there are management strategies to mitigate southern pine beetles and ips beetles if they are present in the spring. |
| Columbus arts exchange strikes chord with growing crowd | |
| Richard Brown, a retired professor of entomology at Mississippi State University, made his way up the stairs of the Omnova Theater stage Saturday at the Rosenzweig Arts Center. He sidled up to the microphone with both hands in his pockets while a crowd of 20 at the All in the Same Breath Arts and Culture Exchange wondered what he would share. Then Brown produced a small silver harmonica before sharing a story. The auditorium resonated with the strong hums and wheezes of musical riffs during Brown's set. Rather than simply exiting stage right when he finished, Brown fielded questions about his performance. Those post-performance questions from audience members are part of what separates All in the Same Breath from other open mic-style events, said event co-founder Naomi Buck Palagi. |
| Earth's Bounty returns to the MAX | |
 | Earth's Bounty is back in action at the MAX. This is the 15th year of Earth's Bounty, and the 2nd year in the MAX courtyard. Earth's Bounty features a range of local vendors for guests to come and shop from, with tons of fresh and locally-sourced produce. Craig Wilkes with the City of Meridian's Community Development says it's a great way to get people out as the weather warms up. "It's the first Saturday between April and November, from 8 until noon. We also put in three Night Markets over the season, in September, October, and November I believe. It's a very diverse crowd, a lot of community support, people come out and hang out. They shop, they visit, they shop some more. The MAX Museum is open for free from 9 to 5, they had 200 people come to the museum today, so it's just been an overall great way to kick off our 15th season," said Wilkes. |
| Nearly 500 jobs cut in North Mississippi in 2026's first quarter | |
 | The Mississippi Department of Employment Security released its first quarterly report of 2026, which includes three notable layoffs in North Mississippi. The report outlines Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices filed by companies within Mississippi. Unlike the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Mississippi does not require immediate public notice of pending WARN filings. Instead, Mississippi reports quarterly regarding WARN notices and mass layoffs. The first quarterly report of 2026 includes seven WARN notices including the North Mississippi businesses: two in Marshall County and one in DeSoto County. In total, the report highlights 693 jobs lost, with 486 of those in DeSoto and Marshall counties, according to the notices filed. |
| 'That's been my trajectory': Michael Watson confirms run for Mississippi lieutenant governor | |
| The cat is officially out of the bag. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson is running for lieutenant governor. Watson, in recent weeks, announced that he would not be seeking a third term in his current office but would appear on the statewide ballot in 2027. The Republican from Pascagoula on Tuesday made it known that he is gunning for the position currently held by term-limited Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. If elected lieutenant governor, Watson said he would work to strengthen the partnership between his office and the governor. He said Mississippi has lacked a strong working relationship between those two elected leaders in recent years. As of Dec. 31, 2025, Watson's campaign had $2.5 million in cash on hand. |
| AG opinion appears to shoot down idea of using Trump Accounts as employee incentives | |
| An opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General's Office appears to shoot down the idea of using Trump Accounts as an incentive to attract and maintain state employees. Last month, Auditor Shad White asked Attorney General Lynn Fitch whether his office could invest state funds in the accounts on employees' behalves. "We're constantly competing with private CPA firms. We're competing with local law enforcement entities. So, we're always trying to be creative about the incentives that we offer our employees and try to recruit more of them, retain more of them," he said. In a March 30 opinion, the attorney general's office stated that there is currently "no statutory framework in Mississippi law" allowing agencies to contribute to the accounts. The opinion goes on to state that the Mississippi legislature could enact legislation to allow such contributions "as it did with the Mississippi State Employees Paid Parental Leave Act." |
| Mississippi Outlaws Lab-Grown Dairy, Farmers Say Pressures Remain | |
| Mississippi lawmakers have moved to protect the state's dairy industry by banning cell-cultured dairy products, but some farmers said the law does little to address the pressures already forcing small farms to close. House Bill 1153, which takes effect July 1, prohibits the manufacture, sale or offer for sale of cell-cultured dairy products in Mississippi. Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson said the measure is meant to protect farmers and keep lab-made dairy products out of the state before they enter the market. But for farmers like Jacob Leggett, former owner of Grazing Way Farm in Ellisville, and Ben Simmons, owner of Nature's Gourmet Farm, the larger concern is not just a new product entering the market. They said small farms have been under strain for years because of regulation, rising costs and limited ways to get products to customers. |
| Legislature revises full-day school attendance language, provides for excused absences for school activities | |
| Tucked in the legislation that provided Mississippi's teachers with pay raises this session was a provision that revised how much of the school day a student has to be in class to be counted as present. The bill, SB 2103, which included the previously reported pay raises for teachers, assistant teachers, occupational therapists, special education teachers and school attendance officers, also prevents schools from counting a student as absent when they are participating in a school activity or event. In the conference report, unanimously adopted by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, to be counted as present for the full school day, Mississippi public school students will be required to attend at least 66% of the day. To combat chronic absenteeism, lawmakers are requiring school districts to adopt locally developed student attendance policies by August 1 of this year. |
| Mississippi Bill Criminalizing Mailing Abortion Drugs Could Burden Doctors and Law Enforcement, Expert Warns | |
| Criminalizing providers for mailing abortion drugs to patients could mean doctors are less willing to prescribe certain drugs to pregnant women, an expert on reproductive health law and history told the Mississippi Free Press after the Mississippi Legislature approved the bill. Mary Ziegler, a Martin Luther King Jr. professor of law at the University of California Davis School of Law, pointed to concerns over how House Bill 1613 could affect the willingness of physicians to prescribe the drugs for other medically necessary purposes. Mailing abortion drugs to patients would be a crime under the legislation, which defines the practice as felony drug trafficking in the law. Doctors or providers who prescribe or distribute abortion-inducing drugs, like mifepristone and misoprostol, without an in-person visit with a patient could face imprisonment and civil penalties. The Legislature sent the bill for Gov. Reeves to sign into law last week. |
| Mississippi Supreme Court allows lawsuits vs. TikTok, Meta to continue | |
| Mississippi's top court has turned away early challenges from two of the world's largest social media companies, allowing the state to press forward with lawsuits accusing them of harming young users. In separate orders issued Thursday, April 2, the Mississippi Supreme Court declined to step into ongoing cases against TikTok and Meta Platforms, rejecting efforts by both companies to halt the litigation before it reaches trial. The decisions keep alive lawsuits brought by Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who alleges the companies built platforms that exploit and negatively impact children and teenagers in violation of state consumer protection law. The state's 2023 lawsuit against TikTok accuses the platform of intentionally designing features that keep minors hooked, even as it allegedly exposes them to harmful content. A separate lawsuit filed in 2024 targets Meta alleging its platforms expose young users to bullying, harassment and unwanted contact. |
| Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy campaigns for Sen. Hyde-Smith in Flowood | |
| U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, stumped for Mississippi's U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at the Sheraton Hotel Flowood last week, encouraging Republicans to return the state's junior senator to Washington for another six-year term. Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith's campaign manager, told Mississippi Today in a statement that more than 400 supporters attended the Thursday night fundraiser, and the campaign expected to raise more than $400,000. "We were also proud to welcome Sen. John Kennedy, who brought his trademark wit and a strong message on the conservative leadership Senator Hyde-Smith brings to Washington," Monssen said. Hyde-Smith is the Republican incumbent running against Democratic nominee Scott Colom. |
| For these Republicans, the 'war on woke' starts at home | |
 | Republicans have in recent years waged a "war on woke," hammering Democrats who embrace progressive policies on race, sexuality and gender. Now they are using the term to beat up on each other. In some of this year's most bitter House and Senate primaries, Republicans are seeking to paint their GOP opponents as advocates of big government spending programs and supporters of diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives. The battle over DEI has emerged as a key line of attack for Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who's fighting for his political future against Rep. Julia Letlow, his main rival in next month's Republican primary. Cassidy's campaign has dubbed his opponent "Liberal Letlow" following news reports that she championed DEI efforts while interviewing to be the president of the University of Louisiana Monroe -- before she served in Congress. |
| Trump warns a 'whole civilization will die tonight' if a deal with Iran isn't reached | |
 | Airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran on Tuesday, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that a "whole civilization will die tonight" if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic to agree to a deal that includes reopening the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 p.m. in Washington was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge. Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world's oil transits in peacetime. While Iran cannot match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait is causing major damage to the world economy. |
| GOP patience with Iran operation growing thinner as Trump escalates tensions | |
 | Some Republican lawmakers are growing wary about the military conflict in Iran, which has entered its sixth week and could escalate further after President Trump urged Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face "all Hell." The Iran operation is unfolding at a politically precarious moment for Republicans, as the midterm election season ramps up and segments of the MAGA base grow increasingly restless over a perceived drift away from the "America First" agenda. While Trump initially projected the operation would only last for four to five weeks, he has since escalated tensions -- most notably by threatening strikes on Iran's infrastructure over the weekend -- and hasn't ruled out U.S. boots on the ground, moves that risk a longer, more entangled conflict. GOP lawmakers were almost in lockstep behind Trump when he launched the strikes in February, but some now say they want Congress to step in and assert its authority if the conflict extends beyond 60 days. |
| Vance is on standby in Iran talks | |
 | Vice President JD Vance is on standby, prepared to jump into sensitive negotiations with Iran if backchannel talks advance to the point of a direct meeting with Iranian officials. The talks, currently, are led by Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, but Vance could be tagged in if the pair make sufficient progress, according to a person familiar with the talks granted anonymity to discuss them. It is not clear what Iran might need to offer. The role, which was hinted at by President Donald Trump on Monday, reflects how Vance has found a lane in the conflict, emerging as an important player as the White House searches for a way to end the war. Vance has, for the most part, stayed behind the scenes. |
| Epic winter drought creates a bleak situation for farmers -- and your food | |
 | Justin Perry's family has been farming the rolling hills of the Nebraska panhandle for four generations, but none of them can remember a winter as warm and parched as this one. There was no steady rain to gently soak the soil. No blanket of snow to insulate the fields and pasture. Just warm, dry winds that swept across the landscape, sucking moisture from every inch of exposed earth. Now spring has arrived, along with forecasts for continued drought that could imperil Perry's winter wheat and summer planting. "This is feeling really bleak," Perry said. "This might be one of those scenarios that breaks some guys." All across the lower 48 states, farmers like Perry are reeling from the hottest and third-driest September to February stretch on record. If the combination of rainfall shortages and unprecedented heat continues, experts say, it could have ripple effects through the nation's food supply. Some of the driest conditions are in the South, where the growing season is well underway. |
| AI-Displaced Workers Could Face Long Setbacks, Report Finds | |
 | The rise of artificial intelligence has quickly sparked worries of job losses in America's office cubicles. Whether this happens is a big question, but a new Goldman Sachs report analyzing past technology waves warns AI-displaced workers face potentially steep economic pain. The report, released Monday, draws on four decades of federal data and tracks the lives of more than 20,000 Americans born between the 1950s and 1980s. Compared with workers who lost jobs in more stable occupations, Goldman's researchers said that displaced workers in jobs hit by technological shifts -- such as telephone operators and typists -- suffered both short- and long-term economic impacts. The jury remains out on whether AI will prove so disruptive. Some economists think the technology will boost fortunes for workers by complementing their skills and allowing them to work more productively. Many economists also believe that even if AI causes substantial job losses, it's likely to fuel other kinds of job growth. |
| Meet the student behind Cliff Johnson's campaign for Congress | |
 | While most students were studying for midterms or preparing for spring break, one student was overseeing a congressional campaign that won Mississippi's 1st Congressional District Democratic primary. Eli Nordstrom is a 21-year-old junior political science major from Oxford. Nordstrom has managed Cliff Johnson's campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives since January, helping guide Johnson to a primary victory on March 10 against Republican candidate Kelvin Buck from Holly Springs, Miss. According to Ballotpedia, Johnson won with a total of 16,577 votes in comparison to Buck's 8,536 votes. "I like to think of myself as the right-hand man to Cliff Johnson in the district," Nordstrom said. "We've got a lot of great people working with us. I don't want to discount all of their work, but I'm the guy in the district doing the thing." Johnson is a first-time candidate for public office while also serving as director of the MacArthur Justice Center and as a clinical professor of law instruction at the University of Mississippi. |
| Part of Hattiesburg's Pearl Street renamed in honor of USM's Dr. Eddie Holloway | |
 | Family, friends and community members gathered Monday as a road was dedicated to a long-time University of Southern Mississippi leader. In September 2025, the Hattiesburg City Council voted to rename a portion of Pearl Street in honor of Dr. Eddie Holloway. Holloway served several years as Dean of Students at Southern Miss and on the city council. Dr. Eddie Holloway Drive stretches from 40th Avenue to Golden Eagle Avenue on the university campus. Holloway started his career at Southern Miss as a student in 1968. |
| Magnolia Mornings: Flowers appointed to Auburn College of Ag Board | |
| Former DeSoto County Senator Merle Flowers has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the College of Agriculture at Auburn University. A 1991 graduate of Auburn University, Flowers distinguished himself as a student leader, serving as Vice President of the Student Government Association. He was selected as a member of the prestigious Spade Honor Society, an elite recognition awarded annually to the university's Top Ten students. Flowers is an Alpha Gamma Rho and a member of The 1856 Society. Flowers' connection to Auburn University spans generations. His oldest daughter, Sarah Flowers, graduated from Auburn in 2022, and his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, will enroll as an incoming freshman this fall. |
| State lawmakers push for mandatory free speech training at universities after OU Bible-essay dispute | |
| Oklahoma lawmakers proposed bills in March that would mandate free speech training at state universities after OU student Samantha Fulnecky publicly contested a failing grade on a Bible-based essay. OU Graduate Student Senate members say the proposed bills, one of which is directed at graduate teaching instructors specifically, would negatively impact free speech in higher education. On March 25, the state Senate advanced Senate Bill 1726, which would direct state institutions of higher education to develop and maintain a free speech training program for graduate teaching instructors. "The training shall emphasize that students shall not be penalized or disadvantaged in grading, participation, or evaluation on the basis of lawful expression," the bill states. The bill passed 41-7 and moved to the House for consideration. |
| Student organizations speak out after Mizzou cuts funding | |
 | Student leaders from five major multicultural organizations on campus joined forces for Monday's "State of the University" town hall after an announcement from the University of Missouri that some student organizations would no longer receive university funding. Beginning July 1, multicultural organizations will be reclassified as Recognized Student Organizations, or RSOs, a change that will lead to an almost immediate loss of funding from the university. "You came to us with no solutions," Desmond Jones, Legion of Black Collegians vice president, said as he shared his sentiments regarding the announcement. Jones said this during a private meeting with Angela King Taylor, vice chancellor of student affairs, and other university officials. The organizations played a recording of the private meeting at the Monday town hall. |
| Bringing Stopped-Out Students Back to College | |
 | Adults with some college credit but no credential represent a growing population nationwide. In Michigan, more than 1.2 million adults have earned some credits but not finished a degree, and about 38,000 more stop out each year, according to a new report from ReUp Education. The report found that state leaders see this population as key to reaching Michigan's goal of increasing the share of adults with a credential to 60 percent by 2030. To tackle this challenge, Michigan has partnered with ReUp -- an organization that helps adults who previously stopped out of college re-enroll and complete their degrees -- to develop programs and resources to reconnect these learners with higher education. Central to the effort is the state's re-enrollment marketplace, which brings together 18 public institutions to centralize outreach and provide personalized coaching. The initiative has led to more than 13,900 re-enrollments and over 1,700 graduates, generating an estimated $57 million in tuition revenue for participating colleges. |
| Colleges ramp up offerings to teach students to be AI ethicists | |
| There are people who fear that artificial intelligence will render human beings irrelevant in the workforce. Denise Kleinrichert is not one of those people. A management professor at San Francisco State University, Kleinrichert predicts that the use of AI will become as common as the use of cell phones, and that organizational departments to oversee AI's use will become as ordinary as human resources departments. "Is it going to completely replace all human beings? I can't foresee that in our lifetime. Or a future lifetime," she said. "It's just changing the way we do business." But for that rosy future to become reality, Kleinrichert said, employees must learn how AI works, where it is biased, when it might threaten privacy and how to recognize when an AI agent's output is just plain wrong. |
| When AI Use Makes You Uncool | |
 | Last semester, Ashley Wang sat in a 20-person English seminar at Yale University. In front of her, another student opened ChatGPT and typed in a few of the professor's keywords. Seconds later, a list of talking points appeared. The student skimmed them, raised a hand and began to speak. Wang, a junior majoring in English, watched in disbelief. "Why are you in a seminar that's entirely based on us sitting around in a room and talking and reading and trying to build off of each other's ideas, why are you trying to outsource it to the computer? I just don't understand," she said. Humanities majors like Wang are increasingly questioning the generative AI tools that are reshaping their generation's academic experience, and in many cases shunning them altogether. They see AI use in the classroom as a character test. A marker of how seriously a student takes the labor of thinking. And students are not afraid to call out their peers. To be sure, this isn’t a sweeping anti-AI resistance. |
| Trump administration terminates agreements to protect transgender students in several schools | |
| The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding protections for transgender students, backing away from requirements negotiated by previous administrations that took a different interpretation of civil rights. The decision removes the federal obligations for the schools to keep up measures such as faculty training on abiding by a students' preferred name and pronouns and allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Under the Biden and Obama administrations, the department interpreted Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, to include protections for transgender and gay students. The Trump administration has penalized schools that have made efforts to accommodate students based on their gender identity. |
| 'Nobody answers': The unraveling of a patient care research agency | |
| A small federal agency responsible for studying how health care works for patients is largely dormant despite receiving millions of dollars from Congress for research into antibiotic resistance, health care access and safety or quality of care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has spent none of the $345 million appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year, and $80 million of its fiscal 2025 funding was sent back to the Treasury. AHRQ hasn't funded any new research projects in almost a year, and it hasn't issued grant funding for existing projects since before the end of the previous fiscal year in September, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. That has left the agency, created in 1999 to fund research into how health care delivery can be safer and better for patients, in limbo as the Trump administration signals its desire to reduce its funding or transfer its functions elsewhere. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: No. 9 Bulldogs Continue Homestand Against UAB | |
| No. 9 Mississippi State returns to Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday night looking to get back in the win column as it hosts UAB in a midweek matchup at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. The Diamond Dawgs (25-7) have been dominant at home, posting an 18-3 record in Starkville this season while riding a 23-game winning streak in non-conference games at Dudy Noble Field dating back to last year. MSU will send junior right-hander Chris Billingsley Jr. to the mound for his third start of the season. The Brent, Alabama native is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA across 10 appearances, striking out nine over 11 innings. Billingsley has shown flashes of reliability in both starting and relief roles and has started the past two midweek wins against then 11th-ranked Southern Miss and Grambling. UAB will counter with sophomore right-hander Justin Hicks, who enters at 2-1 with a 5.49 ERA. |
| Need To Know: Spring Football Scrimmage & Fan Event | |
| Mississippi State football will welcome Bulldog fans to Davis Wade Stadium for a free spring scrimmage and fan event on Saturday, April 11, highlighting a full day of competition across campus. "We're really excited about the talent we retained and added to the roster this past offseason, along with the staff we've brought together, and this is a great opportunity to share that with our fans," head coach Jeff Lebby said. "In a time when opportunities like this are becoming more limited, it means a lot to open our doors and give the Bulldog family a chance to watch us work and connect with our players. We're grateful for the support we've received and can't wait to have everyone back in Davis Wade this spring." |
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