The NCAA baseball tournament Super Regional between Southeastern Conference rivals University of Florida (48-16) and Mississippi State (37-23) at McKethan Stadium will begin at 11 a.m. Friday (ESPN2).
The second game of the best-of-three series will be at 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPN). The third and deciding game will begin at noon Sunday (ESPN) if necessary.
Florida beat MSU three out of four times this season, including once in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Ala.
“Three of the four times we played them we were right there with them,” said MSU coach John Cohen, a former assistant coach at Florida. “The one grand slam in the tournament there (by Brian Johnson propelled Florida to a come-from-behind 7-5 victory in the SEC tournament). We had a chance to win a series and it came down to the last inning at our place.
“(Alfred A.) McKethan (stadium) is a tough place to play. I”ve been on both sides of that. We”re gonna enjoy this for a little while, but then it becomes a work week.”
MSU stormed through the Atlanta Regional this past weekend, ousting Southern Miss (3-0), Austin Peay (8-3), and upsetting host Georgia Tech (7-3) to reach the Super Regionals.
Florida was just as dominant in the Gainesville Regional, ousting Manhattan (17-3) and Miami twice (5-4, 11-4) to claim its regional crown.
“One through nine, they”re as good as anybody,” Cohen said. “I don”t think there”s a hair”s difference between those guys (Florida) and the team we haven”t seen play in the West or in Texas.”
The SEC has four teams remaining in the hunt to reach the 65th College World Series, which begins June 18 at the new TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb. No. 6 Vanderbilt will play host to Oregon State, while defending national champion and No. 3 South Carolina will play host to the University of Connecticut.
MSU is selling tickets for the Super Regional at the University of Florida. They are $20 for reserved grandstand seats and $15 for reserved bleacher seating. Call 325-2600 or 1-888-GODAWGS, or order at: www.mstateathletics.com/tickets.
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