Good morning! It’s always a special moment when a big leaguer hits their first-ever home run. Our guy Jordan Westburg hit his first over-the-fencer with the Baltimore Orioles earlier this week in a moment he won’t soon forget.

What else did we throw into the Brew today?

🎾 The Return
🏈 One Final Opponent Preview
🐶 And much, much more!

🎥 HAIL STATE PLUS

Yo-Pro Life. In this episode of Rounding Third, Chloe Malau’ulu stopped by to talk about her early experiences thus far in professional softball and what it’s been like traveling across the world with her new team, the Oklahoma City Spark.

🎥 Rounding Third: Chloe Malau’ulu

With HailState+ you get to watch wherever you want to watch. Web, mobile, and (later this year) all major OTT streaming apps like AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, Roku, and Android. We got it all.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 The Return. The former player turned racquet technician turned coach is making his way back to his alma mater under the direction of head coach Chris Hooshyar. Noah Tippen will join the team as its newest women’s tennis assistant coach with three years of coaching experience under his belt.

🗣️ “It’s literally a dream come true to be able to come back to a place that means so much to me and that has given me so much already. I can’t wait to get the message out to recruits about how special MSU and the Starkville community is.” - Assistant Coach Noah Tippen

Tippen served as the assistant coach with James Madison University for the past two seasons, and most recently, helped the women’s team to a 9-1 conference record in the Sun Belt.

🔼 Dear Ol’ State. Quarterback Mike Wright is preparing for his first season with the Bulldogs while linebacker DeShawn Page is hoping to have his biggest season yet repping the Maroon and White. Listen in the the latest Dear Ol’ State Preseason episode with these two players as they prepare to take on preseason camp.

🎧 Dear Ol’ State Preseason: Mike Wright and DeShawn Page

🔼 Across the Pond. Tomorrow, the Bulldogs’ men’s basketball program is headed overseas on a 10-day foreign tour of Portugal. While abroad, State will play in three friendly games against both the Lisbon All Stars and a pair of teams from the Basketball Association of Porto.

🔼 Opponent Preview. All good things must come to an end. Today, we’ll be previewing State’s final regular season opponent of the year, the Bulldogs in-state rival: the Ole Miss Rebels!

Quick Hits

• Finished fourth in the SEC - West division at 8-5

• Notable win: vs. #7 Kentucky at home; reached No. 11 in CFP poll

• Opened up the 2022 season on a seven game win streak

• Head coach Lane Kiffin hired Pete Golding to take over as defensive coordinator

• Two words, run plays: with an ongoing summer quarterback battle at hand, the offense will quite literally run through their star sophomore running back, Quinshon Judkins.

Ole Miss Players To Watch

🏈 RB Quinshon Judkins: the 2022 All-SEC First Team selection is poised to return with another big season after setting single-season program records for the Rebels with 1,567 yards on the ground and 16 rushing touchdowns.

🏈 LB Suntarine Perkins: the Rebel’s five-star recruit looks to come in and impact the defense immediately as a member of the front seven.

🏈 WR Tre Harris: the transfer wideout from Louisiana Tech will likely lead the receiving core, and is coming off of an All-C-USA selection after putting together a 65 reception, 935 yard, 10 touchdown campaign.

🏈 CB Deantre Prince: coming into his final year with the program, Prince looks to lead the defensive back unit after having 11 pass break ups and 39 total tackles last season.

What Happened Last Time?

The Egg Bowl is always a fun game, and last year’s was no different.

After heading into halftime down two points, the Bulldogs scored 10 unanswered points thanks to a 34-yard Massimo Bascardi field goal and Will Rogers passing touchdown to put the Dawgs ahead by eight.

The Rebels scored a touchdown in the final two minutes of the game, but after attempting to go for two after the touchdown, the Bulldog defense came in clutch and put together a stop to reclaim the Golden Egg for Mississippi State.

🤔 BULLDOG TRIVIA

Been Here, Done That. The Bulldogs’ newest women’s tennis assistant coach isn’t new to Starkville. He was a part of the 2018 and 2019 SEC tournament championship rosters for the men’s tennis team as a player.

Our question today — do you know what the highest ranking either of those tennis teams climbed to in those two seasons?

Think you know the answer? Scroll on down to the bottom to find out.

📬 STICK WITH US

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🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: No. 5!

In 2018, the Bulldogs finished No. 5 in the national rankings after the season came to a close. The following year, Tippen, and the rest of the team, achieved nearly the same status with a No. 9 ranking.

Have a great Wednesday, y'all.