Northern Mississippi
Today will be sunny with patchy fog in the morning and highs in the mid-80s. Tonight will be clear with lows in the mid-50s.
Central Mississippi
It will be sunny today with patchy fog in the morning and highs in the mid to upper 80s. Tonight will be clear with patchy fog after midnight and lows in the mid-50s.
Southern Mississippi
Today will be sunny with patchy fog in the morning and highs in the mid to upper 80s. Tonight will be clear with lows in the mid to upper 50s.
STARKVILLE — Noah Sullivan had just wrapped up his news conference on April 29.
It was one day after Mississippi State baseball fired coach Chris Lemonis in his seventh season. The Bulldogs dismantled Memphis 18-5 in seven innings at Dudy Noble Field the next day. The focus of the news conference with one of MSU’s leaders, instead of the actual game, was centered on the previous 24 hours during which Lemonis was out of his job and Justin Parker named the interim coach.
As Sullivan, the designated hitter, began to stand up to leave the room, he added one last message.
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“Don’t let the Dawgs get hot,” he said.
Mississippi State did just that.
The Bulldogs (34-21) are 9-2 since firing Lemonis. They won SEC series against Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri to play themselves into an NCAA tournament at-large bid.
MSU is the No. 3 seed in the Tallahassee Regional — a familiar postseason place. Mississippi State hasn’t played any other opponent more in the postseason than Florida State (38-14), the No. 9 national seed that’s matched up with No. 4 Bethune-Cookman (37-21). First MSU must play No. 2 Northeastern (48-9) on May 30 (6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+) before possibly facing the Seminoles. But as history shows, playing Florida State has been a good omen for Mississippi State in the NCAA tournament.
“We hope history repeats itself,” Parker said. “And this time of year, even starting with Hoover, this is the time of the year where baseball can be magical and the moments can be special. We’ve talked a lot about that as a group.”
Outfielder Bryce Chance, a Ridgeland native, grew up a Mississippi State fan. The senior said he remembers well what happened the last time MSU was sent to the Tallahassee Regional.
It was 2018 when MSU also had an interim coach, Gary Henderson. The Bulldogs lost the first game of the regional and were down to their final strike against Florida State in an elimination game. Elijah MacNamee blasted a three-run, walk-off home run to keep the season alive. It sparked a run all the way to the College World Series.
Mississippi State also played in the Tallahassee Regional in 2007, which it won and later made the College World Series. The Bulldogs are 7-4 all-time against Florida State in the NCAA tournament, their most wins against any opponent in the tournament.
MSU assistant coach Jake Gautreau was on the 2018 staff. Chance said he asked Gautreau about that game in the dugout during practice on May 26.
“It was cool story, and obviously that radio call is stuck in your head from Jim Ellis every time I even think about Florida State,” Chance said. “It’s really cool growing up a Mississippi State fan. That’s a memory that sticks with you a lot.”
Mississippi State was projected outside of the NCAA tournament field at the time of Lemonis’ firing. It wasn’t by much, though. With three weeks remaining in the regular season, there was still time to salvage what was left.
After run-ruling Memphis, MSU also run-ruled Kentucky on the way to a sweep. It then lost the first game of the series to Ole Miss, but won the next two games to take the series. MSU closed the regular season with a blowout sweep of Missouri before losing 9-0 to Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC tournament.
“I wouldn’t say it’s much different,” shortstop Sawyer Reeves said. “I know that we all trust Parker in the same way. I’d say it’s business as usual. We know what the plan was at the start of the year. It’s kind of the same thing is to get to postseason ball, play the best ball we can and see how far we can go.”
The sample size is small, but Mississippi State has made marginal improvements in many places since Parker took over:
“As much as we’re preparing for other people there, they got their eye on us, too,” Parker said. “I’m not sure there’s anybody thrilled about seeing us in their regional.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi lawmakers are headed back to the state Capitol after failing to pass a budget in their regular session, called back by Gov. Tate Reeves for a special session starting Wednesday.
Reeves summoned the lawmakers earlier in the week, saying a proposed $7.1 billion deal before the legislators was ”fiscally conservative.” He expressed hope that a final agreement could be secured quickly for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1.
”It is my belief that this should not take long. In fact, I believe the passage of these bills could be done in as little as one day,” Reeves said at a news conference Tuesday when he announced the special session.
Republicans, who control both chambers of the legislature, were unable to reach agreement on the next budget in their recent session. Mississippi Today reported GOP infighting led lawmakers to end their regular session in early April without passing a 2026 budget.
”There weren’t a lot of huge disagreements on funding of the core functions of government. There were quite a few disagreements on issues out here,” Reeves said, gesturing to the side, ”which led to them not funding the core functions of government.”
Reeves said the proposed budget would keep recurring spending at roughly the same level as the current budget. But he acknowledged that uncertainty over the federal budget has played a role in budget planning.
In Washington, House Republicans were jubilant after muscling through President Donald Trump’s ”big, beautiful” tax and immigration package by a single vote last week and sending it for what is expected to be long negotiations in the Senate.
”There are still a lot of unknowns about what the federal government budget is going to look like going into the next fiscal year, and so I think that it certainly makes sense for states — all states and certainly Mississippi — to be prepared for whatever may occur coming out of the one big beautiful bill,” Reeves said.
The scene near Starkville, Mississippi, was calm, yet something surprising was hidden below the surface. A small team of researchers was exploring local creek beds and stumbled upon a giant vertebra so large it broke their expectations.
They eventually identified it as the vertebra of a creature from millions of years ago. The bone came from a mosasaur, a powerful marine reptile that roamed the planet during the late Cretaceous period.
James Starnes, from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Geology, played a key role in determining the fossil’s identity.
Researchers spotted the muddy outline of the fossil during routine mapping of ancient rock layers. They retrieved the object and quickly realized it belonged to a massive predator that had once dominated the waters covering much of what is now Mississippi.
“This is a true, true sea monster,” exclaimed Starnes. The discovery measured more than seven inches (18 centimeters) across, leading team members to conclude that it was one of the largest mosasaur vertebrae ever found in the state.
These creatures were known to be apex predators that thrived in warm, shallow seas. They could reach lengths of more than 30 feet (9 meters) and sometimes exceeded weights that were rarely seen in land-based dinosaurs.
Their jaws were lined with rows of sharp, curved teeth suited for grasping prey. “The maximum (weight) is about 20,000 pounds (9,000 kilograms) that this animal could have gotten. This is bigger than most dinosaurs walking around on land,” exclaimed Starnes.
Team members passed the vertebra to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science for further study. George Phillips, the museum’s paleontology curator, examined its shape and size to confirm it belonged to the species Mosasaurus hoffmannii.
“It’s the largest one from the back, or the neck for that matter, that I’ve seen,” said Phillips. Experts compared it with other specimens, noting that this single vertebra hinted at a creature that was easily 30 feet (9 meters) in length.
Mosasaurs prowled the ancient seas, sharing the waters with fish, sharks, and even relatives of modern octopus-like animals called ammonites. With powerful tails and paddles for limbs, they moved rapidly in pursuit of prey.
Finds such as the giant vertebra captivate the public because they offer a look at life just before an asteroid impact contributed to the extinction of these reptiles, around 66 million years ago.
With each discovery, paleontologists gather data that helps fill in gaps about what the region’s ecology once looked like.
“It might be the biggest one ever collected in Mississippi. That was the find of the day,” remarked Jonathan Leard, another researcher who was working with Starnes.
Beyond its sheer size, the bone’s excellent state of preservation impressed scientists. Museum specialists plan to protect and catalog it, adding crucial data to ongoing studies of Cretaceous-era species in Mississippi.
Coastal waters of the late Cretaceous covered much of North America’s southern region. Vast inland seas teemed with predators that now inspire awe for their ferocity and scale.
The land around Starkville, which is dotted with creeks, was once submerged beneath waves that were home to mosasaurs.
By mapping these deposits, geologists piece together how shorelines shifted over time and how different species adapted.
Mosasaurs, including Mosasaurus hoffmannii, blended lizard-like bodies with aquatic adaptations. They used flippers instead of legs and had long tails that propelled them with surprising speed.
These reptiles were not shy about eating fish, smaller marine reptiles, or even members of their own kind.
Their place in the food web allowed them to dominate waters until the abrupt changes that were triggered by the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
Every large fossil expands our knowledge of ancient biodiversity. Even a single vertebra reveals new details about feeding habits, possible migration routes, and interactions with other marine predators.
Researchers frequently compare bones from different deposits to understand variations in size among mosasaurs. They also examine growth rings, bite marks, and other clues that may unravel behavior in these massive reptiles.
Local museums aim to conserve each piece of the state’s fossil record. Curators study everything from shells to entire skeletons, building a clearer timeline of ancient life.
Collaborations between government agencies and academic experts improve the understanding of life in prehistoric Mississippi.
This recent giant vertebra find has deepened excitement for future surveys in the region, which might unveil more evidence of formidable sea creatures.
Information for this article came from a Mississippi State University press release.
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