No. 19 Bulldogs Begin Lengthy Road Stretch At No. 25 Alabama

STARKVILLE – No. 19 Mississippi State will travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend to meet No. 25 Alabama in its first true road games of the year. The schedule has been altered due to severe weather in the forecast on Saturday, and the teams will now play a doubleheader on Friday with the finale remaining on Sunday.

This weekend will mark the first time in series history that Mississippi State is ranked higher than the Crimson Tide when the two teams meet. It is also the first time that State has visited Tuscaloosa while ranked in the polls.

The Bulldogs will travel to Tuscaloosa on Friday and return home following the doubleheader. They will return on Sunday. This weekend marks the first of four straight road trips, totaling eight consecutive true road contests, which will be MSU's longest true-road stretch since 2014.

Sierra Sacco continues to pace Mississippi State, batting .548 over the last 10 games with a team-leading 11 RBIs. Meanwhile, Delainey Everett has pitched to a 0.55 ERA in that span with 10 strikeouts in 12.2 innings.

Game Coverage

Leading Off

On The Road To Rhoads: MSU takes to the road for its first SEC series away from Nusz Park this year. Last spring, the Bulldogs won three road series for the first time since the SEC switched to the current 24-game schedule in 2013.

Taming The Tigers: State swept No. 18 Auburn, outscoring the Tigers, 21-12. It was MSU's first series win against Auburn since 2010 when State swept a doubleheader and its first three-game series win since 2007. It also stands as the Bulldogs' first three-game sweep of the Tigers since 2001. MSU is 8-1 in its first series of SEC play over the last three years.

Speedy State: After one weekend of SEC play, the Bulldogs lead the league in conference games in stolen bases and rank second in hits and doubles. Their 21 runs scored rank third.

Sierra Sets The Table: Sierra Sacco is riding a career-long 24-game reached-base streak that has seen her bat .493 with a 1.519 OPS in that span. That streak is the tied for the longest active streak in the nation and the second-longest this year. MSU is 49-7 when scores a run since she arrived in 2024.

Road Trippin': MSU will play its first true road games of the season this weekend in Tuscaloosa, kicking off an eight-game run of true road games. This stretch is twice as long as any true road game run last year and the longest for MSU since playing nine road games in a row in 2014.

Call The Bomb Squad: MSU has scored 78 runs off homers this year. That amounts to 42.4 percent of State's scoring this season and 47.6 percent of its RBIs. The Bulldogs have hit three grand slams this year.

Magic Number: The Bulldogs have scored five or more runs in 68 of its 84 wins (81.0 percent) over the past three years. The Bulldogs are 138-15 under Samantha Ricketts when scoring at least five.

Ace Mentality: Raelin Chaffin has done her best to emulate pitching coach Taryne Mowatt-McKinney, throwing in 17 of MSU's 26 games and collecting 12 of the Bulldogs' 22 wins. She is on pace to become just the sixth Bulldog to strike out 200 batters in a single season and has thrown eight complete games. State totaled just 28 complete games in the three years before Mowatt-McKinney arrived and has totaled 32 under her direction.

About Alabama (20-7, 0-0 SEC)

Series History

Notables

The Crimson Tide ended its pre-conference slate with a 20-7 record. Jocelyn Briski and Catelyn Riley are the Tide's prominent pitchers in the circle, with both seeing more than 45 innings pitched thus far. Briski has also picked up 55 strikeouts on the year. Alabama's top hitter is Audrey Vandagriff who is batting .438 on the year after starting all but one game. The Tide is one of five teams to already steal more than 75 bases, which leads the SEC. Vandagriff leads the nation with 34 stolen bags on her own. As a team, Alabama is also among the top 15 nationally in batting average, RBIs and double plays turned.

On Deck

The Bulldogs will return to the state of Alabama next week to play at UAB on March 19. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT on ESPN+. MSU won the first meeting of the year, 11-1, in five innings on Feb. 26. From there, State will stay in Birmingham before flying to Chicago to face Northwestern in a three-game series.

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No. 19 Bulldogs Begin Lengthy Road Stretch At No. 25 Alabama

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Raelin Chaffin

Delainey Everett

Sierra Sacco

Mississippi State University Athletics

No. 19 Bulldogs Begin Lengthy Road Stretch At No. 25 Alabama

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Raelin Chaffin

Delainey Everett

Sierra Sacco

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