Mississippi State's first home SEC weekend since 2019 was a big one, as they hosted Arkansas in what was, according to Baseball America's rankings, a matchup of #1 vs #2. Unfortunately, however, it was not a successful weekend for the Bulldogs, as the Razorbacks hit 9 home runs on the weekend en route to a road sweep.
The week started out with a home midweek matchup with North Alabama. In an 18-1 shellacking of the Lions, the Bulldogs wore the popular white M over S pinstripe uniforms. This was expected, as the white 85s got the midweek nod last week against Samford. With the win over North Alabama, both of the Bulldogs' two midweek uniforms have 3-0 records in 2021.
Against Arkansas, State wore their usual home weekend uniform rotation: maroon 85 over white on Friday, cream script "State" on Saturday, and all-black on Sunday. After suffering the sweep, the maroon 85 jerseys fell to 4-2 on the season (3-2 when paired with white pants), the cream uniforms fell back below .500 to 2-3, and the all-black look fell to 4-2.
Sunday's loss marked the first time ever that the Bulldogs had lost consecutive games in the all-black look. The Bulldogs are 25-6 all-time in the famously successful combination, with 3 losses in 2018, 0 in 2019, 1 in 2020, and now 2 so far in 2021. Arkansas becomes the first team to beat the Bulldogs in all-black after previously falling victim to the look (State beat Arkansas 7-5 in game 3 of the 2018 series in Starkville while wearing the look); the previous losses came to Texas A&M, Auburn (whom the Bulldogs have since beaten twice in all-black), Oregon State (x2), and LSU.
So, with the all-black uniform suddenly being less successful, the question has begun to arise: what will it take for them to stop being worn? More than two losses, that's for sure. The Bulldogs' next weekend series, against Kentucky, is a Thursday-Saturday series, so the all-black look was probably going to have a week off anyway; that seems very well timed. I would expect, however, that the next weekend at Auburn, all-black will return. That being said, nothing is set in stone forever, and if the losing streak in black continues, you would think that things would get shaken up eventually. We'll see how it plays out, but my guess is that the Bulldogs get back to their winning ways sooner rather than later, and all-black will be a part of that, for better or for worse.
The week started out with a home midweek matchup with North Alabama. In an 18-1 shellacking of the Lions, the Bulldogs wore the popular white M over S pinstripe uniforms. This was expected, as the white 85s got the midweek nod last week against Samford. With the win over North Alabama, both of the Bulldogs' two midweek uniforms have 3-0 records in 2021.
Against Arkansas, State wore their usual home weekend uniform rotation: maroon 85 over white on Friday, cream script "State" on Saturday, and all-black on Sunday. After suffering the sweep, the maroon 85 jerseys fell to 4-2 on the season (3-2 when paired with white pants), the cream uniforms fell back below .500 to 2-3, and the all-black look fell to 4-2.
Sunday's loss marked the first time ever that the Bulldogs had lost consecutive games in the all-black look. The Bulldogs are 25-6 all-time in the famously successful combination, with 3 losses in 2018, 0 in 2019, 1 in 2020, and now 2 so far in 2021. Arkansas becomes the first team to beat the Bulldogs in all-black after previously falling victim to the look (State beat Arkansas 7-5 in game 3 of the 2018 series in Starkville while wearing the look); the previous losses came to Texas A&M, Auburn (whom the Bulldogs have since beaten twice in all-black), Oregon State (x2), and LSU.
So, with the all-black uniform suddenly being less successful, the question has begun to arise: what will it take for them to stop being worn? More than two losses, that's for sure. The Bulldogs' next weekend series, against Kentucky, is a Thursday-Saturday series, so the all-black look was probably going to have a week off anyway; that seems very well timed. I would expect, however, that the next weekend at Auburn, all-black will return. That being said, nothing is set in stone forever, and if the losing streak in black continues, you would think that things would get shaken up eventually. We'll see how it plays out, but my guess is that the Bulldogs get back to their winning ways sooner rather than later, and all-black will be a part of that, for better or for worse.