Following the series victory over Georgia at Dudy Noble Field, the No. 11 Mississippi State Bulldogs traveled to Pearl, Mississippi to take on the University of Southern Mississippi.
Southern Miss was carrying an eight-game winning streak against SEC foes, but Mississippi State quickly put an end to that. After going down 2-1 to USM in the game, the Bulldogs took advantage and scored four runs in the fourth inning and never looked back.
As MSU kept putting runs up, the Golden Eagles shuffled through pitchers but could not stop the Bulldogs’ mission of tallying up the runs against the in-state foe. Led by Nathaniel Lowe’s four hit night, the Bulldogs put up 18 hits during their 13-5 victory over USM.
Offensively, the Bulldogs were led by Elih Marrero with three hits and one RBI, Jacob Robson with three hits and two RBIs, and Lowe who tallied up four hits and three RBIs. Marrero has been on fire as of late, hitting 10 of his last 13 at-bats in the last five games.
On the mound, MSU threw four pitchers. Konnor Pilkington started and went three and one third inning allowing two runs with only one earned. Ryan Rigby then replaced him and threw two and two thirds innings and got the win.
Vance Tatum came in and struggled, allowing three runs with two being earned in one inning. From there, dual threat Reid Humphreys came in and struck out four Golden Eagles in two innings of work while only allowing one hit.
The win improved the Bulldogs to 18-7-1 while still tied for first place with a 4-2 record in SEC play and awaiting Ole Miss this weekend. Ole Miss is sitting at a 20-5 overall record and a 2-4 record in SEC play.
After a historic start to the season, Ole Miss was ranked in the top 10 and hosted South Carolina but put up a bad performance and got swept on the weekend. The series loss dropped the Rebels to No. 13 in the polls heading into the “Egg Bowl of Baseball.”
In a Top-15 matchup, the Bulldogs are looking to overcome their last year’s troubles against Ole Miss when they lost all four games. MSU comes in at 3rd in the SEC in batting average, while Ole Miss comes in at 11th. On the other hand, Ole Miss comes in at 4th in ERA while MSU comes in at 7th.
While it is a huge rivalry, it should be an impressive series with two very good teams facing off against each other. With how MSU has been playing in SEC play, it is going to be difficult for Ole Miss to squeeze wins out of Dakota Hudson who has not allowed an earned run in 21.2 innings and Austin Sexton dealing like he has been.
If Mississippi State is going to continue to compete for first place in the SEC West, they will have to show up and at least win the series from the rival Ole Miss this weekend. The series will be at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
