It’s rivalry week in the Magnolia State, and Mississippi State is out to maintain its recent dominance over its in-state foe.
The Bulldogs have not lost a series to Ole Miss since 2015 and enjoyed a particularly dramatic win over the Rebels last year. After dropping the series opener at Dudy Noble Field, MSU came from behind and won the middle game in front of a record crowd on a walk-off single by Dakota Jordan, then took the rubber match the next day.
This season, the scene shifts to Swayze Field in Oxford, where a Bulldogs team coming off an emotional series win against Georgia faces an Ole Miss squad that has lost seven straight games. The Rebels (18-15, 3-9 Southeastern Conference) led in all three games last weekend at No. 1 Arkansas but were on the wrong end of a sweep, a week after being swept at home by Kentucky.
Ole Miss won its first SEC series against South Carolina and managed a road win over Tennessee sandwiched around two run-rule losses, but have also dropped midweek games to Arkansas State and Memphis. The Rebels can, at least, claim a win over an Austin Peay team that defeated MSU twice early in the season.
Andrew Fischer, a transfer from Duke, leads Ole Miss with 13 home runs and 34 runs batted in, and former junior college product Ethan Lege sports a team-best .351 batting average and .448 on-base percentage. The Rebels are near the bottom of the SEC in most offensive categories but are a patient bunch, having drawn the third-most walks in the conference. Ethan Groff, who is 11-for-11 on stolen base attempts, and Jackson Ross have also been strong at the plate.
The pitching has left a lot to be desired for head coach Mike Bianco and company. Friday night starter Riley Maddox has been serviceable with a 4.46 ERA in 36 1/3 innings, but he has yet to pitch into the seventh inning all year. Outside of Maddox, Ole Miss has mixed up its weekend rotation throughout the season, but their other most-used starters — Liam Doyle, Grayson Saunier and Gunnar Dennis — all have an ERA north of 7.
The Rebels’ bullpen does have a few reliable arms, most notably Mitch Murrell and Austin Simmons, but Ole Miss has issued the most walks in the SEC (153) and has the conference’s second-worst team ERA.
Here are three keys to victory for the No. 22 Bulldogs (21-12, 6-6) as they try to win their ninth consecutive series over their biggest rivals.
Stay patient at the plate
MSU has done a good job of this throughout the season, drawing four walks in a row from four different pitchers in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against Georgia. Against an Ole Miss pitching staff that has struggled to control the strike zone, the Bulldogs will need to avoid expanding and accept their free passes.
Get length from the starters
Khal Stephen and Jurrangelo Cijntje have been good about pitching deep into games for most of SEC play, and if they are able to do so this weekend, head coach Chris Lemonis will have his top relievers — Cam Schuelke, Tyler Davis and Brooks Auger — available for the final outs. Nate Dohm attempted to come back from an arm injury and pitched for the first time in a month Sunday, but exited in the first inning with discomfort. If he is still not at full strength, MSU may need to use the bullpen for close to a full game, making it all the more valuable for Stephen and Cijntje to work into at least the sixth.
Come through with runners in scoring position
Those four straight walks the Bulldogs took Sunday did not even lead to a run, thanks to a baserunning mistake and MSU’s failure to capitalize with the bases loaded. The Bulldogs should be able to generate plenty of traffic on the bases against these Rebels’ pitchers, but no matter where they are in the lineup, cashing in on those opportunities will be critical.
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