In all, Mississippi State wore 8 combinations in 2018. This was more than the 6 worn in 2017, but still less than the 9 worn in 2016.

On-Field Recap
It can't be said enough how wild of a season 2018 was for Mississippi State baseball. The season started with the Bulldogs being swept at the hands of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles down in Hattiesburg. That weekend series was just weird, even from a uniforms standpoint: white pants on the road all three games, no gray pins, Maroon 85 over White on Saturday (this was the only non-Friday game all season on which that combo was worn), and full white uniforms on the road on Sunday. Add getting swept by a C-USA team and your coach texting in the dugout, and you've got both a weird and rough start to the season.

It couldn't get much worse than that, right? How about if your head coach for a year and three games, Andy Cannizaro, gets canned on the Monday following the USM series for having an affair with a staffer, being addicted to his phone, and just overall ceasing to do his job as head baseball coach? That might make it worse. State stayed afloat but looked to be headed towards a 2015-like season on April 1st, when interm HC Gary Henderson and the Bulldogs were 14-15 and 2-7 in SEC Play. But that wasn't the end of the story....

Hitting coach Jake Gautreau did an amazing job with Mississippi State's young hitters, and the Bulldogs' offense went from anemic to competitive mid-season. State took 3 out of 4 from nationally ranked Ole Miss. State swept nationally ranked and eventual national runner-up Arkansas. And to close the regular season, State swept the #1 ranked Florida Gators to finish 15-15 in SEC Play, good enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as a 2 seed.

As a 2 seed, the Bulldogs traveled to the Tallahassee Regional. After dropping the opening game to Oklahoma by a score of 10-20, State stormed through the loser's bracket. With the Bulldogs down to their last strike, Elijah MacNamee hit a walk-off 3 run home run to eliminate the home town Seminoles; the Bulldogs defeated Samford and then Oklahoma twice over the next two days to advance to their third Super Regional in as many years.

Mississippi State traveled to fellow SEC 2-seed Vanderbilt for a Super Regional, winning game one on another MacNamee walk-off homer and losing game 2 on a walk-off. The Bulldogs won game 3 in all black, on Vanderbilt's field, in extra innings to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

In Omaha, the Bulldogs won their first two games; they defeated Washington in the White Pinstripes and North Carolina in the Gray Pinstripes. That was the end of the road, however. The Bulldogs dropped two in a row to the eventual National Champions, the Oregon State Beavers. It was tough to see the season end, but it was hard to be disappointed with a third place finish when the season started the way it did.

Biggest Uniform Storylines in 2018
​
85-style Pullovers Return to the Field
For the first time since the originals were taken out of usage, Mississippi State wore V-Neck Pullovers with the "1985" Mississippi State wordmark on them in 2018. As shown in the season preview, there have been several different versions of maroon and white jerseys with the "85" wordmark in recent years, but the 2018 versions are the most faithful to the originals; the number font is the only major difference.  

In addition to the traditional maroon and white 85s, black 85s (that featured the same design as the maroon 85s but with all of the maroon replaced with black) were also worn in 2018. This, again, was not an entirely new concept, as similar uniforms were worn in 2015 and 2016, but with an inverted wordmark. Though initially worn with white pants and maroon hats, the black 85s were worn in a different combination the final 11 times they saw the field. That leads us to....

All Black Uniforms are Controversial but Successful
On a Wednesday Night in March against New Mexico State, the Bulldogs debuted a new uniform combination: black hats, black 85 jerseys, and black pants. It was the second time that Mississippi State had worn an all-black look; they did the same thing in a midweek game back in 2015. That year, however, all-black was worn once and only once. This year was a different story. The all-black combination was initially met with nearly universal criticism. The replies on Twitter to @HailStateBB's announcements the first few times we wore all-black were golden. However, public opinion started to change over time, and it wasn't because the uniforms started looking any better.

The second time all-black saw the field was game 3 against Ole Miss in Starkville. A rubber match, I'm still salty that we didn't wear White Pins in that game to create an all time great uniform matchup with Ole Miss's powder blues; plus, it could've saved us this whole all-black mess. Anyway, Luke Alexander hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning to win the series for the Bulldogs, kick-starting a trend of the Bulldogs wearing black every single SEC Sunday for the last 7 series of the year.

After the series win over Ole Miss, the idea of White 85s or Maroon 85 over White Pins being our "Sunday best" was thrown out the window. It was all-black. Every. Single. Sunday. The complaints kept rolling in, but they were fewer and fewer every week, as State kept winning. By the end of the regular season, State was 6-2 in the all-black combination- it's worth noting that both losses came in important rubber matches (against Texas A&M and Auburn), but neither loss was able to make the Bulldogs buck the trend.

The all-black uniforms were worn again in the regional in a win over Oklahoma; at this point people started to ask for them to be worn. A week later, they were worn at Vanderbilt as the Bulldogs clinched their 10th trip to Omaha. That's right- Mississippi State wore their opponents' primary color on their field in game 3 of a super regional. Utter madness. Now associated with winning (they had an 8-2 record at that point), the all-black combo was a fan favorite heading into Omaha. They even got a nickname, "nickelblack", to further endear them.

The all-black look was worn one final time in 2018, the Saturday winner-take-all bracket championship game against Oregon State. The Bulldogs lost, ending their season and giving the all-black combination an 8-3 record on the season. Did having the season end in them sour people's opinion on the all black uniforms? Probably not, at this point. The emotional goodwill has been built too high, for better or for worse.

​I was not a fan of the all-black uniforms from the start, and their "success" really hasn't changed that- they still don't look any better. Black pants just don't work in baseball- unless you look at them as early 1900s fauxbacks, which I did later in the season to try and somewhat justify them. And as I maintained when they were first worn, the 2018 black 85s are the best black jerseys State has ever worn- the "85" design is excellent regardless of color, and while the lack of maroon sucks from a school colors perspective- maroon and black don't go together well at all, so excluding maroon is actually the best way to do black if we have do to it (we don't.) 

The other major problem I have with all-black is that it was simply worn too much. Mississippi State wore black 12 times in 2018 and all-black 11 times. 7 of those were SEC game threes, and 3 were NCAA Tournament games. Prior to this season, Mississippi State baseball had never worn black in the NCAA Tournament, much less all-black, and much less in Omaha. By the end of the season, all-black was State's third most worn combination, behind only Maroon 85 over White and Gray Pinstripes. That means it was worn more than both the White Pinstripes and White 85s, which is near unacceptable.

The final issue with the black 85s is more of a practical issue: the jersey fabric, especially in the daytime, seemed to be a bit lighter or more washed out than the pants. That meant that it looked really, really cheap at certain angles during daytime games, which most all of those Sunday SEC games were. I saw this issue pointed out several times throughout the season, and I don't know if it's an Adidas issue or what. But the simple solution is this: if all-black does return next season, ONLY wear it at night (and preferably midweek nights); that way the jersey and pants will at least match.

Pinstripe Uniforms see Significant Usage
Both of Mississippi State's wins in Omaha came in pinstripes; the Bulldogs defeated Washington in the White "State" Pinstripes and North Carolina in the Gray Pinstripes. The #Winstripes were good to the Bulldogs in 2018.

The White "State" Pinstripes, in their second season of usage, were the Bulldogs' most successful uniform this season, at 8-2, slightly edging out all-black (8-3). The 10 appearances in 2018 were the most ever for the White "State" Pins; they wore worn 9 times to a 7-2 Record in 2017.

The Gray Pinstripes saw increased usage in 2018 due to the construction on Dudy Noble Field that resulted in more road games for the Bulldogs. Worn in 15 games in 2018, the Gray Pins finished a game over .500 at 8-7. Like the White Pins, the Gray Pins were worn more in 2018 than they ever had been before; the Gray Pins had previously been worn 11 times in 2016 (8-3 Record) and 9 times in 2017 (3-6 Record).

Maroon MS Jerseys Hardly See the Field; Used as BP tops in Postseason
As detailed in the season preview, the Maroon MS jerseys underwent a small makeover in 2018. The jersey fit was changed from two-button to Adidas's newest button-down template, and the Adidas logo was moved to be directly over a slightly-smaller M over S logo. Due to the second change, the updated Maroon MS jerseys simply didn't look as good this season, and as a result, they were worn significantly less.

After being worn 27 times in 2016 and 40 (!!!) times in 2017, the Maroon MS design was worn just twice in 2018, both in midweek wins over SWAC schools and both times with white pinstripe pants (which was a good call- the pinstripe pants helped break up the otherwise very plain look). This is nothing to complain about- Maroon MS jerseys had been severely overworn the past two seasons so it was time for a change of pace. The Maroon 85 jerseys, which were the Bulldogs' primaries this year, seeing the field 21 times, are better anyway, and work well in the weekend role while the Maroon MS jerseys work well in the midweek.

As we found out during the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament run, the Maroon MS jerseys also work well as BP tops. In a role that the Maroon MS jerseys were perfect for, we got a look at some combinations that otherwise didn't see the field in pregames in Tallahassee, Nashville, and Omaha: Maroon MS over White, Maroon MS over Gray Pins, and even Maroon MS over Black.

2018 Uniform Trends/Stats

Trends:
Friday Games: Maroon 85 over White
Thursday/Saturday Home Games: White "State" Pins
Saturday Road Games: Gray Pins
Saturday Neutral Games: White 85
Sunday Games (2nd half of season): Black 85 over Black
Sunday Home Games (1st half of season): White 85
Thursday/Sunday Road Games (1st half of season): Maroon 85 over White Pins
Home Midweek: White "State" Pins, Maroon MS over White Pins, Black 85 over Black
Road Midweek: Gray Pins
Neutral Midweek: White 85

Stats:

• Combos:
  • Maroon 85 over White: Worn 18 Times (8-10, .444)
  • Gray Pinstripes: Worn 15 Times (8-7, .615)
  • Black 85 over Black: Worn 11 Times (8-3, .727)
  • White "State" Pinstripes: Worn 10 Times (8-2, .800)
  • White 85: Worn 8 Times (5-3, .625)
  • Maroon 85 over White Pinstripes: Worn 3 Times (0-3, .000)
  • Maroon MS over White Pinstripes: Worn 2 Times (2-0, 1.000)
  • Black 85 over White: Worn 1 Time (0-1, .000)
• Jerseys:
  • Maroon 85: Worn 21 Times (8-13, .381)
  • Gray Pinstripes: Worn 15 Times (8-7, .615)
  • Black 85: Worn 12 Times (8-4, .667)
  • White "State" Pinstripes: Worn 10 Times (8-2, .800)
  • White 85: Worn 8 Times (5-3, .625)
  • Maroon MS: Worn 2 Times (2-0, 1.000)

Takeaways:

• 8 wins was the magic number for Mississippi State's uniform combinations this season; the Maroon 85s, Gray Pins, Black 85s, and White "State" Pins each had 8 wins this season despite being worn an uneven amount.
• The White "State" Pinstripes were the Bulldogs' "most successful" uniforms in 2018, with an 8-2 Record and a winning percentage of .800, which is by far the best among combinations worn three times or more.
• There was a good amount of variety among Mississippi State's uniform selection in 2018; the Maroon 85 jerseys were the most worn at 21 times; this is much better than the maroon MS jerseys being worn 27 times in 2016 and 40 times in 2017.
• The White 85 jerseys were under-worn this season, while the Black 85 jerseys were over-worn. There is a direct correlation here; the Black 85s took the White 85s's Sunday home spot in the rotation half-way through the season. Hope to see the White 85s more in 2019.
• The only combination that the Bulldogs did not lose in during the 2018 season is the Maroon MS over White Pinstripes combo; it was only worn twice, each time against SWAC schools during the midweek.
• There were two combinations in which the Bulldogs did not win: Maroon 85 over White Pins, which was worn exclusively against SEC opponents (Missouri, LSU 2x), and Black 85 over White, which was worn only once (a loss to TAMU CC).

Final Thoughts/ Looking Ahead to Next Year
There is an argument to be made that the 2018 baseball uniform set was, overall, Mississippi State's best ever. The White and Maroon 85s, along with the White and Gray Pinstripes, are all top notch college baseball uniforms. In my rankings above, I had Gray Pins as Mississippi State's 5th best combination; it'd be #1 for many college baseball teams. We have 5 top level combinations, and that's something to be proud of. The Maroon MS jerseys aren't bad either- move the Adidas logo back to the right chest and they're another top level look. The Black 85s are the only real "blemish", but they've been accepted by many fans due to them being worn in a few big wins. Yet again, Mississippi State had some of the best uniforms in college baseball. As it should be.

Looking ahead to the 2019 season, it will be interesting to see what, if any, affect new HC Chris Lemonis will have on the Bulldogs' uniforms. While Lemonis was at Indiana, the Hoosiers had a solid core set of uniforms; their most notable uniform is an all-red look that is most comparable to State's all-black combo.

I would expect all three 85-style jerseys to return in 2019, as well as the White "State" Pinstripes; the updated Maroon MS jerseys will probably still be available to wear here and there. The Gray Pinstripes, which would be entering their fourth year of use, are the most likely to be retired; if they are, it would make sense to bring back the classic gray script uniforms. Regardless of the details, 2019 should be another great season for the best uniforms in college baseball.

A few final thoughts to wrap up the 2018 season:

• You can check out Mississippi State's baseball uniform history (back to 1966) at this link.
• There is also a page documenting Mississippi State's postseason baseball uniform history, including every SEC Tournament since 2005, Regional since 2000, Super Regional since the format began in 1999, and all 10 College World Series appearances in program history.
• This year, Mississippi State made the College World Series for the first time since 2013; I've been making roundel logos for every CWS team since that 2013 season, and was finally able to include Mississippi State again this year. Check those out here.
• For the final thought of the 2018 Season Recap, read this quote from now former Mississippi State head coach Andy Cannizaro, keeping in mind that we wore all-black uniforms that didn't feature a single drop of maroon 11 times this season. A man of truth he is not.

At the end of last month, I didn't think there was any way I'd be writing a uniform recap for Mississippi State at the 2018 College World Series. Yet here we are.

After sweeping Florida to end the regular season, Mississippi State got fiery hot and fought through the elimination bracket of the Tallahassee Regional to advance to the program's third straight Super Regional, where they again had to play on the road. They then defeated Vanderbilt in extra innings of game 3 of the Super Regional to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2013; like 2013, they won the first two games and had two games to beat Oregon State once and advance to the national championship series. Unfortunately, that's where the parallels end, as the Bulldogs finally ran out of gas and fell twice to the hot-hitting Beavers.

​The Bulldogs played their first game in Omaha on the night of Saturday June 16th against the Washington Huskies, who were making their first ever College World Series appearance. As the "home" team, Mississippi State wore the White "State" Pinstripes, the same uniform design that was worn in the Bulldogs' first CWS appearance back in 1971. Since then, the Bulldogs have worn white pinstripes in two different Omaha trips (1998,2013); both of those pinstripes had the M over S logo on the left chest rather than the "State" script. The Bulldogs won a pitching duel with the Huskies, winning 1-0 on a walk-off hit from Luke Alexander in the bottom of the 9th. With the win, the Bulldogs now have a 2-4 record in White Pinstripes in Omaha.

Due to rain, State's winner's bracket matchup with North Carolina was moved to from Monday night to Tuesday morning; this didn't affect the Bulldogs, who took a 4-1 lead early on a grand slam by Jordan Westburg, and later expanded on that lead to coast to a 12-2 victory and get within one win of a national championship series berth. The Bulldogs were the "away" team for the matchup, and as a result wore the Gray Pinstripes. It was the first time that the Bulldogs had ever worn Gray Pinstripes in Omaha; they had previously worn gray (1990,1997) and pinstripes (1971,2013,2013), but not gray pins. With the win over North Carolina, the Bulldogs are now 1-0 in Gray Pinstripes, 2-2 in gray-based uniforms, and 3-4 in pinstripes in Omaha.

On Friday, the Bulldogs did as they have every single Friday all season and wore Maroon 85 over White. It was the first time that the Maroon 85 pullover design had been worn in Omaha since... 1985, when they were worn in a win over Arkansas. They were previously worn in the 1979 and 1981 trips; the 2013 team of course had the button-up Maroon 85s that they wore twice in Omaha, in a win over Indiana and a loss to UCLA. The Friday game was also the first time since the opening game of 2013 that the Bulldogs had worn maroon jerseys with plain white pants in Omaha; in that game they wore the Maroon MS over White combo in a 5-4 win over the Beavers. Unfortunately, that was not the case on Friday, as the Beavers soared to a 12-2 win over the Bulldogs. After the loss, the Bulldogs now have a 7-9 record in Omaha in maroon jerseys, 4-6 in jerseys with the maroon 85 design, and 3-5 in maroon 85 v-neck pullovers.

On the night of Saturday June 23rd, the Bulldogs squared off with Oregon State once more in a "winner-take-all" game to advance to the national championship series. Just as they have in many "deciding games" this season, the Bulldogs took the opportunity to wear their "nickelback" Black 85 over Black uniform combo. It was the first time in 10 appearances that the Bulldogs had ever worn black, which as you may recall is not a school color, in the College World Series. The Bulldogs came into the game with an 8-2 record in the combination, tied for the best among State's uniforms. Unfortunately it left the game with an 8-3 record, as the Beavers' 5 runs, all scored with two outs in the top of the third inning, proved to be enough to end the Bulldogs' season.

The four different jerseys worn in Omaha is a school record, and the 4 combinations worn match the record of 4 combinations worn in the 2013 appearance. Wearing 4 different base jersey colors (White, Gray, Maroon, Black) was a very new thing for Mississippi State in Omaha; they had previously never worn more than 2 (White/Maroon in 85,98,07,13; White/Gray in 90; Gray/Maroon in 97). Overall, it was the most diverse set of uniforms that State has ever taken the field in at Omaha. Replace the Black 85s with the White 85s, and it would also be the best.

The 2018 Season Recap will be posted later this week. In the meantime, below are a couple of graphics that be found at the Baseball Postseason Uni History Page. The first documents the Bulldogs' incredible 2018 postseason run; the second documents all 10 of the Bulldogs' College World Series appearances.

Uniform Models for the 2018 College World Series:

Saturday vs Washington- White "State" Pinstripes- #7 Luke Alexander
Tuesday vs North Carolina- Gray Pinstripes- #11 Jordan Westburg
Friday vs Oregon State- Maroon 85 over White- #13 Hunter Stovall
Saturday vs Oregon State- Black 85 over Black- #24 Cole Gordon

Greatest Super Regional ever? Quite possibly. All three games came down to the wire, with Mississippi State walking off game 1, Vanderbilt walking off game 2, and Mississippi State winning game 3 in eleven innings to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

As far as uniforms go, Mississippi State wore the same uniform rotation it wore for its last 3 road SEC series, so pretty straight forward, right? Maybe, but we'll still go in-depth. Even though it's been "normal" for both teams this season, Sunday's uniform matchup was almost certainly the most confusing in super regional history. How confusing? Well, it ended with the team wearing black dog-piling at Vanderbilt's stadium. So that confusing.

The series started on Friday night. Mississippi State won the coin toss to be the home team in game 1, which of course meant that they had the very important advantage of batting last, but actually didn't affect the uniform matchup for game 1 at all. As they have every single Friday all season, Mississippi State wore Maroon 85 over White; Vanderbilt, despite being the "away" team, wore white uniforms anyway. So the uniform matchup would've been exactly the same had home/away been reversed. Mississippi State got the win off of another walk off home run by Elijah MacNamee; it was the Bulldogs' first win in the Maroon 85s this postseason.

On Saturday night, the home/away designations were reversed; Vandy was the "home" team while State was the "away" team. This time it did affect the uniform matchup; as the "away" team, State wore gray pinstripes, whereas they probably would've worn white pinstripes as the "home" team. Vanderbilt wore gold jerseys over white pants; like white vs maroon the night before, the gold vs gray uniform matchup was pretty nice. The game, however, did not have a nice ending, as Vanderbilt walked off to even up the series and force a game 3.

Game 3, as mentioned earlier, featured what was probably the most confusing uniform matchup in super regional history. Vanderbilt, whose school colors are black and gold, wore navy "USA" theme jerseys and hats with white and red accents; it's a tradition that Vanderbilt has done on Sundays at home for the past several years. Mississippi State took the opportunity to fill the void created by Vanderbilt *not* wearing black, and ditched its own school colors of maroon and white to don the all black 85 look, which they have done every Sunday since the Ole Miss series.

So, while both were looks that the respective teams have been wearing on Sundays this season, the combination of them both being worn on game 3 of a super regional created the ultimate "what is going on here?" moment that made people who never pay attention to uniforms stop and look for a minute. The game itself was nerve-racking. I'm sure from a neutral perspective it was great, but as a Mississippi State fan, you weren't able to relax until the final out was recorded in the bottom of the 11th. When that out was finally recorded and the Bulldogs had won 10-6, they dog-piled on Vanderbilt's field wearing Vanderbilt's primary color. Bananas.

With the win on Sunday, the Bulldogs became 8-2 in the all black uniform combination, one that has been so polarizing among the fanbase. I said from the start that the design of the uniform was by far the best that we have had for a black uniform; the 85 design is one of the best in college baseball, it just happens to be in the wrong color here. Many complain about the lack of maroon on the uniform, but honestly I can live it with; maroon and black don't go well together, so if we do black it does look better if maroon isn't included. It just has the unfortunate side-effect of including 0 school colors. Overall, it has grown on me a bit due to all of the winning; black pants are still not ideal in baseball (unless you look at it in a super-throwback type of way, which I'm starting to) and white pants would look way better, but we win in these things. The "NickelBlack" uniforms.

A few final thoughts:

• If you're like me and you don't love the all-black 85s, keep in mind that they are not the worst uniforms Mississippi State has ever dog-piled for Omaha in. That would be 2007.
• The notion that the all-Black 85s are are most successful uniform is indeed correct; they have an impressive 8-2 record. However, don't forget about the White "State" Pins, which have a 7-2 record, including the iconic walk-off over Florida State. One win in them in Omaha, and the White Pins are just as successful as all-black.
• Mississippi State is headed to Omaha for the first time since 2013! I've been making what I call "CWS Roundels" every year since then, and I was pumped to be able to include the Bulldogs again; you can check those out here.
• Finally, I updated some iPhone wallpapers I made a few years back to include State's 2018 CWS appearance. You can download those here.

Uniform Models for the 2018 Nashville Super Regional:

Friday vs Vanderbilt- Maroon 85 over White- #40 Elijah MacNamee
Saturday vs Vanderibilt- Gray Pinstripes- #7 Luke Alexander
Sunday vs Vanderbilt- Black 85 over Black- #15 Jake Mangum

If you thought that it couldn't get any crazier than last year's regional, think again. Let's go in chronological order.

The 2018 Tallahassee Regional began on Friday with an offensive-heavy bomb fest as the Bulldogs dropped a 10-20 contest in the Maroon 85 over White combo, blowing a 10-7 lead at one point. Things didn't look good, until an opportunity arose on Friday night, with Florida State dropping its opening round contest to Samford. This meant that Mississippi State only had to beat the National Seed Seminoles once, and with their best pitchers still available.

On Saturday Morning, State wore white pinstripes in the postseason for the first time since the 2013 National Championship Series. The Bulldogs came into the game with a 5-0 record in white pinstripes in regional games (so excluding supers and Omaha) this century. They left the game 6-0. After being shutout through the first eight innings, a two and a half hour rain delay provided a fresh perspective for the Bulldogs. Florida State made the poor decision to stay with their pitcher, who had pitched over 100 pitches, after the long delay, and State made them pay. Two walks and two outs led to a situation of Elijah MacNamee being both the potential winning run and losing out. MacNamee chose winning, smashing a 3-run walk-off home run over the left field fence with two strikes on him to eliminate the Seminoles, give the Bulldogs a 10-1 record against National Seeds, and most importantly, keep the season alive. It was an iconic moment in Mississippi State baseball history- and the white "State" pinstripes were the perfect uniform for that moment.

On Sunday Morning, the Bulldogs were the away team for the first time in the regional, and as a result wore the gray pinstripes in the elimination game vs Samford. It was the third time gray pinstripes had been worn in a regional game this century- previous times were when the gray pinstripe vests were worn in a 2004 loss to Texas Tech and when the current gray pins were worn in a win over Cal State Fullerton in Starkville in 2016. State defeated Samford 9-8 in that game, picking up its second win in pinstripes in as many days.

Sunday Evening against Oklahoma, history was made. Mississippi State baseball wore black uniforms in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time ever. Before now, we'd always had the good sense to stick to school colors in tournament games. But man, if we don't win in these things. After Sunday's 13-5 shellacking of Oklahoma, State is now 7-2 in the Black 85 over Black combo this season. That's the same great record that we have in the white pins. The Oklahoma game on Sunday was played at nighttime for the most part, which fit the theme of all black much better than the usual Sunday afternoon SEC games were they really look out of place. So all in all, while they still shouldn't do it, all black wasn't that bad this time around.

It all came down to Monday Afternoon. The winner-take-all regional championship. Oklahoma vs. Mississippi State. Bulldogs back in the gray pins. Oklahoma got the early 1-0 lead, but Mississippi State quickly jumped ahead and never looked back, taking a 4-1 lead into the 9th and getting 4 insurance runs to push the lead out to 8-1. JP France dealt, allowing 1 run in 7 innings of work, while Riley Self got the save by pitching the last two innings. With the win, Mississippi State became the first team ever to win back-to-back regionals after losing the first game in both of them. Overall, it was the third straight regional championship for the Bulldogs, who will play Vanderbilt in a Super Regional next weekend.

The regional championship was the first this century in gray pins, which went 2-0 this weekend as the only repeat combo. The Bulldogs' four different combinations in the regional are tied for the most worn by a Mississippi State team this century with the 2013 Starkville Regional , and the four different jerseys are the most worn by the Bulldogs in a regional this century. It was a stark contrast from last year's Hattiesburg Regional, where State wore only two uniforms over five games (maroon MS in the first two, inverted white 85s in the last three).

Click Here for more Mississippi State Baseball Postseason Uniform History

Similar to how Florida had little to play for in last weekend's series, Mississippi State had significantly less at stake than their opponent in their opening round SEC Tournament game against LSU. After sweeping the #1 Gators, Mississippi State had a 15-15 SEC record (31-24 overall,  with an incredible 9-1 mark against probable national seeds) and an RPI of 26. Both D1Baseball and Baseball America had the Bulldogs as a 2 seed and a solid lock in the NCAA tournament. LSU, on the other hand, had an identical conference record but not as many marquee wins and an RPI in the mid 40s. That put them squarely on the bubble and needing a win on Tuesday Night. They got one.

Mississippi State wore one of my favorite uniform combinations for the occasion, the Maroon 85 jerseys with white pinstripe pants. It was only the third time all season that the combination had been worn; the last was also against LSU, the Thursday game in Baton Rouge. The other time was the Sunday game at Missouri; those were the first two road weekends in SEC Play, and the uniform rotation for road SEC series was set at Maroon 85 over White on Friday, Gray Pins on Saturday, and Maroon 85 over white pins on the other game (Thursday or Sunday). Sadly, starting with Auburn and continuing through the final three SEC road series, the all Black 85s took over the game 3 slot, taking the vastly better maroon 85 over white pins look out of the rotation.

With tonight's loss, the maroon 85 over white pins look unfortunately has an 0-3 record on the season. Maybe it'll see it's first win in regional play? Time will tell. The Bulldogs have a much needed week and a half of rest ahead of them before they start regional play next Friday. The destination will be revealed on Monday; the Bulldogs are expected to be either a 2 or 3 seed and could go to any regional not hosted by an SEC team.

Uniform Models for the 2018 SEC Tournament:

Tuesday vs LSU- Maroon 85 over White Pinstripes- #48 Konnor Pilkington

What a weekend.

Mississippi State went into the series with #1 Florida, who hadn't lost a series since last April, needing 1 win to secure an SEC Tournament bid and 2 wins to feel confident about an NCAA Tournament bid. They got 3. Florida lacked effort all weekend and didn't throw all of their best arms in a series that was more or less meaningless to them, but that doesn't matter to State. It was a series that the Bulldogs had to have, and they brought their best three efforts all year to sweep the defending national champions.

It all started on Thursday Night, when the Bulldogs wore the white "State" pinstripes, one of the best uniforms in college baseball, en-route to a 6-3 come-from-behind win. Florida wore some less-than-stellar black jerseys in their loss; drop shadows and thick-piping bring the look down. I think that, taking into account only the jersey, State's Black 85 alternates are much better. The difference? Florida doesn't wear theirs with black pants, so their overall look is better (though still not great). Interestingly, Thursday was MSU Ace Konnor Pilkington's first ever appearance in the white "State" pins.

On Friday, State wore the maroon 85 jerseys with white pants, yet another one of the best uniform combinations in college baseball, while Florida wore gray. The Bulldogs dominated from the start, winning 12-4 to clinch the series. On Saturday, despite high temperatures and high humidity, the Bulldogs stuck to their game 3 trend of wearing the all Black 85s; Florida countered with blue jerseys. Once again, the Bulldog offense was on fire as State won 13-6 to pull off the sweep of the Gators.

With the sweep of Florida, State ended the 2018 regular season with a 15-15 SEC Record, tied for 7th best in the conference (tied for 3rd in the West) and good enough for a 9 seed in next week's SEC Tournament in Hoover. Finishing conference play .500 seemed unthinkable a couple of months back; honestly, it seemed unthinkable three days ago. State will be matched up with #8 seed LSU in the play-in round of the Tournament. The game will start at 4:30 PM CT on Tuesday, and the winner will advance to play #1 seed Florida in the double-elimination round on Wednesday.

​In the next to last week of the 2018 regular season, Mississippi State went 2-2, giving itself a good shot to stay over .500 on the season, but failed to pick up what would’ve been a resume-boosting series win. A series win next weekend puts the Bulldogs in good position for an NCAA at-large bid. The problem? That series is against #1 Florida, who hasn’t lost an SEC series (or any series period) since last April. The work is cut out.
 
But, on to what's more important: the uniforms. In the extra-inning midweek win over Troy in Hoover, the Bulldogs wore the classic White 85 uniforms. It was the first time since the Governor’s Cup that the White 85s had seen the field, and the games shared quite a few similarities. In addition to both being neutral site midweek games in which the Bulldogs wore the White 85s, both games included State blowing leads in the top of the 9th only to come back with walk-off wins.
 
The weekend series at Kentucky started off on Friday as the Bulldogs wore the Maroon 85 over White look and fell to the Wildcats, who were wearing their basic but solid all-white look. Saturday’s game featured an all-pinstripe matchup, the second in two weeks for State. Like State’s gray pins, Kentucky’s new white pins look really good; they were worn with patriotic hats in Saturday’s game. It was of the better uniform matchups of the year involving State, and definitely the best of the week.
 
On Sunday, Kentucky wore their really, really nice cream script throwback uniforms. Of course, State countered with the All-Black 85s for the 6th straight Game 3. If you ever wanted concrete evidence that winning the uniform matchup doesn’t correlate with winning the actual game, I don’t think you’re going to find a better example: State’s offense exploded and the Bulldogs won 18-8, preventing what would’ve been a painful sweep.

Uniform Models for the game vs Troy and series at Kentucky:

Tuesday v Troy- White 85- #14 Riley Self
Friday at Kentucky- Maroon 85 over White- #13 Hunter Stovall
Saturday at Kentucky- Gray Pinstripes- #44 Ethan Small
Sunday at Kentucky- Black 85 over Black- #11 Jordan Westburg

Not dead yet. By winning a critical SEC road series at Alabama, Mississippi State kept its 2018 postseason hopes alive. Though a 9th inning blown-lead on Saturday prevented a sweep that would have ​really put the Bulldogs in good shape, it's hard to count a road series win as anything but a success.

The weekend started out with a crazy Friday night game that ended up with a Bulldog win on the back of a go-ahead home run by Foscue in the 10th inning. The series opener featured a solid uniform matchup; State went with its exceptional Friday night Maroon 85 over White look, while Alabama wore all white with crimson hats.

Saturday Night featured a really good uniform matchup and looked destined for a Bulldog win until the aforementioned meltdown occurred and the Crimson Tide ended up evening up the series. Both teams wore really nice pinstripe looks, with Alabama in white with crimson pinstripes and State in gray with maroon pinstripes.

For the fifth SEC Series in row, the Bulldogs wore the all black 85 look in Game 3. State overcame an early deficit to win the series with a 6-4 victory. The win gave the all black combo a 4-2 overall record, 2-2 in rubber matches. So, as the official @HailStateBB account once said, All Black is what " works with the series on the line* " *half of the time

Uniform Models for the Series Win at Alabama:

Friday at Alabama- Maroon 85 over White- #17 Justin Foscue
Saturday at Alabama- Gray Pinstripes- #4 Rowdey Jordan
Sunday at Alabama- Black 85 over Black- #28 JP France

It was an up and down week for Mississippi State baseball, an improvement over most of the season but not in comparison to the sweep of #3 Arkansas last weekend. The walk-off Governor's Cup win was fun, as was the Saturday win over A&M, but losses on Friday and Sunday left the Bulldogs with an SEC series win this week.

The week started on a high note, with arguably the best Governor's Cup ever. The back-and-forth game was blown by the Bulldogs in the top of the 9th but won in the bottom on a walk-off two RBI double by Luke Alexander following an intentional walk of Jake Mangum. The Bulldogs wore the classic White 85s for the Tuesday win; it was the third straight "home" Governor's Cup in which State has worn a version of the White 85s (2014,2016,2018). Though all three games featured all different variations of the White 85 look, all three were Bulldog wins. For those of you counting at home, that's three straight Governor's Cup wins for Mississippi State both consecutively (16,17,18) and in the White 85s (14,16,18).

On Friday Night, the Bulldogs got out to an early lead in the classic maroon 85 over white look, but eventually fell to Texas A&M in the series opener. On Saturday, the Bulldogs' offense was hot as they rolled to a series tying 11-6 win the white "State" pinstripes.

On Sunday, for the 4th SEC game 3 in a row, the Bulldogs wore the all black 85 look. Unlike last time the Bulldogs wore them in a Sunday rubber-match at home, Sunday was not a Bulldog win. The 7-4 Aggie win signified the Bulldogs' first home loss in the all Black look this season, but the second consecutive loss in rubber matches (two weeks ago vs Auburn). Will the loss be enough to knock the all black uniforms out of their now seemingly default Sunday slot? Let's hope, but I wouldn't count on it. After all, State's only remaining home series is a Thurs-Sat one vs Florida; we haven't lost in all black on Saturday yet, so the pretense will still be well and alive for game 3 of that series.

Sunday's loss was the latest in a string of Mississippi State and/or Texas A&M not wearing school colors against each other in all sports. Surpisingly, this was only the second time State has ever worn black against A&M in baseball; the first time was a series sweeping game 3 win in College Station in 2013.

Uniform Models for the Governor's Cup and Series vs Texas A&M:

Tuesday vs Ole Miss- White 85- #7 Luke Alexander
Friday vs Texas A&M- Maroon 85 over White- #11 Jordan Westburg
Saturday vs Texas A&M- White "State" Pinstripes- #15 Jake Mangum
Sunday vs Texas A&M- Black 85 over Black- #4 Rowdey Jordan

If you're the #3 college baseball team in the country and have a trip to Starkville in the near future, be afraid. Two weeks after taking the series against then #3 Ole Miss, Mississippi State swept current #3 Arkansas on Super Bulldog Weekend 2018.

The week started off on a sour note as the Bulldogs traveled to Memphis and lost 6-1 to the Tigers at Autozone Park. The gray pins were the only positive of the game for the Bulldogs, aside from the fact that it wasn't an SEC game and therefore wouldn't hurt State's attempt to make the SEC Tournament. Now, knowing how the weekend went, the Memphis loss (along with the rubber matches with Missouri and Auburn that were both lost in large part due to bullpen mismanagement) stings a little bit more.

SBW 2018 kicked off on Friday Night as the Bulldogs' came back from an early 5-0 deficit to win 6-5 in the Maroon 85s. Due to forecasted thunderstorms on Sunday, the series concluded with a doubleheader Saturday afternoon. Wearing the White "State" Pins for the first time in exactly a month, State clinched the series with a 5-3 win.

For the second game of the doubleheader, the Bulldogs switched into the all black uniforms. It would've been more tolerable if they'd have only changed jerseys; haven't seen black over white pins yet this season. Of course, I would've gone with Maroon 85 over white pins, or even White 85s if we're willing to change pants in-between games. But hey, whatever works I guess. After getting down again early, State stormed back for a 7-5 series sweeping win, the second straight sweep of Arkansas in Starkville.

With the series win over then #3 Ole Miss and sweep of current #3 Arkansas, the Maroon 85 over White and Black 85 over Black looks are each 2-0 against teams ranked #3. And the White "State" Pins are 1-0. Not bad.

Uniform Models for the SBW18 Sweep of Arkansas:

Tuesday at Memphis- Gray Pinstripes- #13 Hunter Stovall
Friday vs Arkansas- Maroon 85 over White- #11 Jordan Westburg
Saturday vs Arkansas- White "State" Pinstripes- #17 Justin Foscue
Saturday vs Arkansas- Black 85 over Black- #40 Elijah MacNamee