Following another crushing loss Tuesday night in the Governor’s Cup against bitter rival Ole Miss, Mississippi State is back to official Southeastern Conference games this weekend and is in desperate need of wins as the Bulldogs (24-17, 6-12 SEC) head on the road to face No. 11 Auburn.
The Tigers are led by former MSU assistant coach Butch Thompson, who was on the Bulldogs’ staff from 2009 through 2015 under John Cohen — now Auburn’s athletic director. Thompson has taken the Tigers to the Men’s College World Series in 2019 and 2022, but last year, Auburn was the worst team in the SEC, finishing 8-22 in conference play. MSU swept the Tigers at Dudy Noble Field last spring, the only sweep of SEC play for the Bulldogs.
Thompson has turned things back around quickly this season, though. Auburn (28-13, 9-9) has a key early midweek win over Troy — a team that defeated MSU — as well as a neutral-site win over a top-10 Oregon State team. The Tigers do have two questionable losses to UAB and one to Old Dominion, but have been impressive in conference play, with series wins over Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Alabama as well as a sweep of LSU.
Auburn has been particularly strong at home, with six of its SEC losses coming in road sweeps at the hands of Georgia and Texas. The Tigers have also taken both midweek contests against a ranked Georgia Tech squad, beating the Yellow Jackets 1-0 at Plainsman Park on Tuesday evening.
Ike Irish, one of the holdovers from last year’s roster, paces Auburn’s offense with a .353/.460/.692 triple slash, 11 home runs and 36 RBI. Irish has been even better in conference play, leading the SEC with a .417 average and .950 slugging percentage.
There are no breaks in the top half of the Tigers’ lineup, with Cooper McMurray, Chase Fralick, Chris Rembert, Cade Beyleu and Bub Terrell also putting up strong numbers. Beyleu’s team-high .473 on-base percentage is due in large part to his 16 times being hit by a pitch.
Samuel Dutton is likely to get the Friday night start, carrying a 5-2 record and a 2.42 ERA through 10 starts and 55 ⅔ innings. He has racked up 64 strikeouts against just 12 walks. The LSU transfer pitched six shutout innings against his former team on Apr. 11, after tossing seven scoreless frames the week before against rival Alabama.
Freshman Christian Chatterton (37 ⅓ IP, 4.58 ERA) is behind Dutton in the starting rotation, although he does not typically pitch deep into games. Cade Fisher, a transfer from Florida, has also been a weekend starter, with Alex Petrovic and Andreas Alvarez capable of starting games as well. Auburn’s bullpen, like MSU’s, has been shaky, but Carson Myers has been able to shut things down in the late innings for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs’ bats have been hot lately and will need to stay that way to earn a series win. If the struggling Hunter Hines can break out of his latest slump this weekend, that makes the MSU lineup that much more complete. The offense will have to adjust quickly after pitching changes after falling silent in the late innings Tuesday.
Most importantly, the Bulldogs need length out of their starters, particularly Pico Kohn in the series opener. The bullpen has been taxed beyond measure lately, forcing head coach Chris Lemonis to push certain arms more than he would like to. Stone Simmons and Nate Williams showed signs of getting back on track last Sunday after blowing up earlier in the weekend, and they will need to stay sharp against another strong offensive team.
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