Mississippi State Baseball to Have Familiar Permanent SEC Opponents

The league announced the two permanent opponents for each school in the future SEC baseball scheduling format.

Christopher Walsh | Nov 9, 2023

Mississippi State Baseball to Have Familiar Permanent SEC Opponents /

While Southeastern Conference football has struggled with making scheduling changes following the additions of Oklahoma and Texas next season, every baseball baseball team will have two permanent opponents they play annually moving forward.

That had already been announced. But on Thursday, the league released the matchups.

“Beginning in 2025, SEC baseball teams will play a three-game series against two permanent opponents and eight rotating opponents for a total of 30 conference games,” the SEC announced. “Standings will be kept in a single-division format, eliminating divisional standings.”

The opponents were determined based on geography, traditional opponents and strength of schedule.

With that in mind, Mississippi State's permanent teams are somewhat curious. Ole Miss was a given, considering the rivalry and proximity of the two in-state baseball powers.

However, the other is Texas A&M, which obviously isn't as close geographically as Alabama and LSU.

Ole Miss also drew Arkansas, while A&M's other permanent team is LSU. Alabama drew traditional rivals Auburn and Tennessee.

The SEC baseball schedule lasts 10 weekends, so most teams will still face each other on a regular basis, just not every year.

Mississippi State will open the 2024 season against Air Force on Feb. 16-18 at Dudy Noble Field/Polk-Dement Stadium. It'll begin SEC play at home against LSU on March 15-17. The 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament will be May 21-26, 2024, at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, just outside of Birmingham, Ala.

SEC Baseball Permanent Opponents

Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee
Arkansas: Ole Miss, Missouri
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia
Florida: Georgia, South Carolina
Georgia: Florida, Auburn
Kentucky: South Carolina, Vanderbilt
LSU: Mississippi State, Texas A&M
Ole Miss: Mississippi State, Arkansas
Mississippi State: Ole Miss, LSU
Missouri: Oklahoma, Arkansas
Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas
South Carolina: Kentucky, Florida
Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Alabama
Texas: Texas A&M, Oklahoma
Texas A&M: Texas, LSU
Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Kentucky

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Published Nov 9, 2023

CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the publisher of Cowbell Corner. He's covered college athletics since 2004, and is the author of 26 books. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Walsh is also the publisher of BamaCentral and MizzouCentral in the SI/FanNation network.