Sideline View with Dale McKee

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -

The National Football League released the 2022 schedule last week. The New Orleans Saints will open the regular season on September 11 in Atlanta against their long-time rival Falcons. The first home game will be against Tampa Bay on September 18. The Crescent City 11 will play eight home games this season and will also be the designated home team against Minnesota in London on October 2. New Orleans will play the following teams in the Superdome: Atlanta, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Seattle and the Super Bowl champion Rams. The Saints will travel to Atlanta, Carolina, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, San Francisco and Arizona. The Saints’ preseason opener is August 13 at Houston. They posted a 9-8 record last season.

Ole Miss baseball did something this weekend that they had never done before as they swept all three games over LSU in Baton Rouge. The last time the Rebels swept the Tigers in Alex Box Stadium was a couple of two-game series in both 1964 and 1965. The Rebels (31-19, 13-14) ran their winning streak to seven games in taking down the Tigers and six straight wins in SEC play and have pretty much secured a spot in the SEC Tournament. The Rebels also won a mid-week contest in Hattiesburg against Southern Mississippi, 4-1, before the largest crowd in Golden Eagle baseball history. This week the Rebels complete the regular season against Texas A&M in Oxford beginning Thursday. Mississippi State (25-27, 9-18) lost all three games at Texas A&M this past weekend to extend their losing streak to nine games. The Bulldogs will now turn their attention to hosting No. 1 Tennessee beginning on Thursday. Southern Mississippi (38-14, 20-7) won a key series against second place UT-San Antonio this week. The Eagles won the final two games of the series to keep a two game lead in C-USA play over second place Louisiana Tech. Middle Tennessee and UT-SA are both three games behind. USM will travel to Middle Tennessee beginning on Thursday. The Golden Eagles will host the conference tournament in Hattiesburg the following week.

William Carey (37-15) won their second straight Southern States Athletic Conference tournament recently and earned the automatic bid to the NAIA Regionals that begins this week in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Delta State (32-15) is the sixth seed in the South Regional in St. Leo, Florida. Delta State will take on the third seed in Rollins College (35-15) this week.

The SWAC baseball season wraps up this week with Mississippi Valley hosting Jackson State and Alcorn traveling to Southern University.

Pearl River Community College will host the Region 23 baseball tournament this week. East Mississippi, Hinds, Jones, Northwest and PRC will join LSU-Eunice in the six-team tournament.

Softball

Ole Miss and Mississippi State made the NCAA tournament. Ole Miss will play Loyola Marymount in the UCLA Regional while Mississippi State will play in the Tallahassee Regional against South Florida.

William Carey will host RV Bryant this week in the opening round of the NAIA. Tournament.

Belhaven softball has punched their first ever ticket to an NCAA Super Regional as they went unbeaten in the Marshall, Texas Regional. The Blazers (41-6) will now play Texas Lutheran in the Super Regionals that begin later this week.

Northwest Community College won their first ever Region 23 title over LSU-Eunice in Wesson. This week they head to Oxford, Alabama, for another first in a trip to the World Series.

State Championships

The MHSAA state softball championships will be held at Southern Mississippi beginning on Tuesday of this week and running through Saturday. The MHSAA baseball championships will begin next Tuesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl. The private school baseball championships will be played this week.

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will host the Ferris Trophy Presentation for the Most Outstanding College Baseball Player in Mississippi next Monday. The finalists will be announced this week.