STARKVILLE — Winners of this week’s Governor’s Cup matchup against Ole Miss, the Mississippi State baseball team returns to Southeastern Conference play with some momentum and needing wins.
It won’t be an easy task to get them as the Bulldogs travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to play the No. 24-ranked Volunteers in a three-game series beginning Thursday. The Vols are one of the hottest teams in the conference, winning their past four games, including a home sweep over Vanderbilt last weekend.
Here is what to watch for in this weekend’s series.
What: Mississippi State at No. 24 Tennessee
When: 6 p.m. Thursday, 5:30 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Lindsey Nelson Stadium
TV: Thursday (SECN), Friday (SEC+), Saturday (ESPNU)
Records/Rankings: MSU is 24-17, 6-12 in the SEC and is unranked in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll. Tennessee is 27-14, 8-10 in the SEC and ranked No. 24 in this week’s D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll. MSU’s RPI is 35 and Tennessee’s RPI is 32.
Series history: Tennessee swept MSU at Dudy Noble Field in last year’s three-game series. The Bulldogs last won a series against the Volunteers in 2019.
MSU Update: The Bulldogs quickly turned the page from last weekend’s gut-punch series loss at Auburn by beating Ole Miss, 2-1, Tuesday night at Trustmark Park to claim the Governor’s Cup. MSU’s pitching staff held the Rebels to one run and four hits in the game, while striking out 10. Hunter Hines picked up MSU’s lone RBI in the game on a ground-rule double in the first inning.
Tennessee Update: The Vols followed up their sweep last weekend of No. 4 Vanderbilt with a dominant 19-1 midweek victory over Bellarmine Tuesday night. Ryan Miller collected six RBIs in the win while Scott Christian added four and Dylan Dreiling chipped in three. Nine Tennessee pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts in the game.
Projected Tennessee lineup: LF Jared Dickey (.309/ 47 H/ 8 HR/ 28 RBI), CF Hunter Ensley (.302/ 29 H/ 5 HR/ 17 RBI), 1B Blake Burke (.327/ 49 H/ 14 HR/ 33 RBI), 2B Christian Moore (.292/ 35 H/ 6 HR/ 26 RBI), DH Kavares Tears, 3B Zane Denton (.278/ 35 H/ 9 HR/ 38 RBI), SS Maui Ahuna (.294/ 30 H/ 6 HR/ 30 RBI), C Cal Stark (.204 / 11 H/ 3 HR/ 10 RBI), RF Christian Scott (.271/ 19 H/ 4 HR/ 17 RBI)
Tennessee Players to watch: Tennessee’s success begins with its dominant weekend rotation of Andrew Lindsey, Chase Dollander and Drew Beam. In last weekend’s sweep of Vanderbilt, the trio combined to throw 20 1/3 innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out 22. Mississippi State has been the least striked-out team in the SEC this season (276), but Vanderbilt was right behind them (290) and had no answer for the Vols’ lethal arms.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion