After two years without postseason baseball following the 2021 national championship, Mississippi State is back in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference and were in contention to host a regional, but came out on the wrong side of the hosting bubble and will be the 2-seed in the Charlottesville Regional, hosted by No. 12 national seed Virginia. MSU is set to play St. John’s in the opening round Friday.
All regionals are double elimination, so the Bulldogs are guaranteed another game Saturday against either the Cavaliers or Penn. Here’s what you need to know about each of the three teams MSU (38-21) could face at Charlottesville’s Davenport Field at Disharoon Park.
St. John’s (37-16-1, 14-7 Big East)
The Red Storm opened their season with a bang, beating then-No. 2 Florida on the road before the rest of the series was canceled due to rain. They come in hot after winning three tight games in the Big East Tournament, edging Georgetown 4-2 in the championship game after dropping two of three against the Hoyas at the end of the regular season.
Catcher Jimmy Keenan paces the St. John’s offense with a .341/.410/.615 triple slash to go along with 11 home runs and 55 runs batted in. Blake Mayberry, Garrett Scavelli and Ben Beauchamp are all threats at the plate as well, and the Red Storm have three players with double-digit stolen bases. But this is a team led by its pitching, with a 4.26 team ERA that ranks 16th in all of Division I baseball.
The Bulldogs are likely to see right-hander Mario Pesca on Friday night. The Red Storm’s ace is 6-1 with a 2.94 ERA in 70 1/3 innings pitched, holding opponents to a .227 batting average. Xavier Kolhosser (67 1/3 IP, 9-2, 3.61 ERA) and Evan Chaffee (67 IP, 3-0, 4.30 ERA) fill out the St. John’s rotation, with Louis Marinaro, Tim Cunningham, Jed Boyle and Ben Adams all reliable options out of the bullpen.
After three straight sixth-place finishes, head coach Mike Hampton has taken the Red Storm to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
“It’s just tough, hard-nosed New York kids,” MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. “Most of them are from the New York area. I’ve known (Hampton) since he was a player in college. It’s the same thing, just a hard-nosed mindset. You’re going to have to go out there and beat them, because they’re going to give you a great effort.”
No. 12 Virginia (41-15, 18-12 ACC)
The Cavaliers finished fourth in the second-strongest conference in the country and have one of college baseball’s top offenses, ranking third nationally with 9.66 runs per game. Virginia does not have too many eye-popping non-conference wins but won ACC series against North Carolina, which won the regular-season title, and Wake Forest, a top-10 RPI team.
Nearly every starting position player is batting above .300 with excellent power numbers. Harrison Didawick leads the way with 23 homers, and Jacob Ference and Henry Ford have 17 apiece. Henry Godbout, Casey Saucke, Griff O’Ferrall and Ethan Anderson make this one of the deepest lineups in the country, and Bobby Whalen is batting .402 with a .491 on-base percentage.
The starting pitching has been inconsistent outside of Evan Blanco (79 2/3 IP, 7-3, 3.50 ERA), although Bryson Moore and Joe Savino are both sometimes used as openers and have solid numbers. Behind Blanco, the Cavaliers are somewhat thin on quality arms, giving the Bulldogs the advantage when it comes to pitching depth. Most of the time, Virginia has simply outslugged the opposition, but that can be a dangerous strategy in the postseason.
Penn (24-23, 11-10 Ivy League)
The Quakers may be just a game over .500, but they have experience on this stage. After winning the Ivy League Tournament last year, Penn defeated national seed Auburn in the opening round of the regionals and then knocked off Samford as well before falling twice to Southern Miss. Now, the “Quake Show” is back after winning three elimination games in the conference tournament, taking down Cornell twice in the championship round.
Wyatt Henseler, the Ivy League Player of the Year, comes in with a .372/.474/.785 triple slash and 22 home runs. Penn has four other starters batting above .300 as well, with Nick Spiventa, Ryan Taylor and Davis Baker helping fill out the lineup.
The Quakers’ team ERA of 6.40, though, is less than ideal. Cole Zaffiro (68 2/3 IP, 5-4, 4.98 ERA) is their most reliable starter, and Penn does have some options in the back end of the bullpen such as Eli Trop, Carson Ozmer and Thomas Shurtleff. But assuming Zaffiro gets the ball Friday against Virginia, the Quakers will have to piece it together on the mound the rest of the way.
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