A brutal Southeastern Conference schedule isn’t bound to give the struggling Mississippi State softball team a break anytime soon.
After being swept at Nusz Park last weekend by No. 5 Florida to remain winless in conference play, the Bulldogs (15-11, 0-6 SEC) travel to No. 15 Arkansas (25-3, 6-0) for a three-game series from Friday to Sunday at Bogle Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
First pitch Friday will be at 6 p.m., while Saturday’s and Sunday’s games both begin at 1 p.m.
Mississippi State will be facing an Arkansas team that sits at the top of the SEC standings after sweeping No. 23 South Carolina and Ole Miss to begin SEC play. The Razorbacks lost a March 16 home midweek game to Liberty, dropping a 2-0 decision in 10 innings, but they’ve still won 24 of their past 25 games after starting the year 1-2.
Arkansas dropped its Feb. 11 season opener 12-11 to No. 10 Oklahoma State at the Best on the Bayou Classic in Monroe, Louisiana. The Hogs then fell in the second game of a doubleheader against host McNeese State in the Cowgirl Classic on Feb. 20 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
But Arkansas has been hot ever since. The following day, the Razorbacks next Baylor, which proceeded to take down Mississippi State the following weekend in Waco, Texas. They posted two wins over Texas Tech and one over Kansas before sweeping the Gamecocks and Rebels to open conference play.
The Hogs haven’t exactly dominated their way through their SEC schedule of yet, though. They’ve won three of their six conference games by one run and none by more than four. Their Saturday and Sunday games against Ole Miss were both 3-2 wins in extra innings, and the middle game the weekend prior at South Carolina — a 7-5 Arkansas win — was also decided in extras.
Statistically, the Razorbacks have overperformed the numbers they’ve put up so far. With a team batting average of .290, Arkansas leads just Auburn and LSU among SEC programs. The Hogs’ 2.18 ERA just edges Ole Miss’ 2.19 mark for ninth in the conference, though Mississippi State (3.61) trails Missouri by six-tenths of a run for dead last in the league.
The Bulldogs have scored just one run in SEC play, and it came in the first inning March 14 at Ole Miss. Mississippi State hasn’t scored in its last 34 innings of softball, though the Dawgs have put plenty of runners on base.
Coach Courtney Deifel’s Arkansas team is led by infielder Danielle Gibson, who was named SEC player of the week after her walk-off homer Saturday to beat Ole Miss in Fayetteville. She leads the Razorbacks with a .436 average, boasts 10 home runs and 35 RBIs and once hit a “home run cycle” in a single game with a solo homer, a two-run shot, a three-run blast and a grand slam.
Missouri transfer infielder Braxton Burnside is slugging .935 with a team-high 16 homers. Outfielder Hannah McEwen is hitting. 386 and getting on base at a .527 clip.
Redshirt junior Mary Haff is the Razorbacks’ primary pitcher with a 15-2 record and a 1.02 ERA. She’s struck out 118 hitters and given up just 63 hits in 102.2 innings in 2021.
The Bulldogs own a 38-29 all-time mark against the Hogs. The most recent matchup between the two schools was in 2018, when Arkansas swept Mississippi State in Fayetteville.
All three games this weekend will be broadcasted on SEC Network Plus.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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