No. 6 Mississippi State (25-12-1, 8-7) will try to bounce back after getting swept by No. 3 Texas A&M (30-7, 10-5) at home on Super Bulldog weekend. MSU will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on the No. 10 LSU Tigers (26-11, 9-6).
The Bulldogs will be coming off of a 14 inning mid-week win over the University of Louisiana in Monroe. A pitcher’s duel that saw no scores for either team in all 14 innings of play up until Jake Mangum hit a RBI single. Giving MSU a 1-0 lead.
While playing a long game before the weekend is not ideal, MSU Head Coach found positives out of the night.
“We really didn’t need to play 14 innings, but we got a lot of guys a lot of good work in pressure situations,” Cohen said. “You have a lot of games like this in the SEC, so it’s good to be in these types of situations.”
The most likely candidate to start game one tonight will be MSU ace Dakota Hudson. After a scorching hot start to the season, he has had a rough time in his last two outings. He had back-to-back losses in his last two starts.
Giving up six runs against Florida and four runs against Texas A&M, his ERA has jumped from below one up to 2.08 on the season. However, 2.08 is still one of the best ERAs for a starter in the SEC.
Looking back on his last two outings, Hudson remains positive in his pitching.
“The confidence is still there,” Hudson said. “Sometimes you have a little stretch of struggle. They’re (LSU) always a good team, so I’m looking for a good weekend.”
Austin Sexton is the usual starter for game two, but due to a recent hamstring issue, that could be in doubt. However, Sexton said he expects to play Saturday.
“I made a little quick move and just tweaked it,” Sexton said. “It was nothing serious, it was just precautionary. Everyone is focused on putting this past weekend behind us. I’ll be ready for Saturday.”
 Sexton plays much better at home compared to the road. On the road he has given up an average of 4.33 runs a game. At home that number drops all the way down to an even two. Eight of LSU’s regular batting order bats over a .300 batting average, so Sexton and Hudson both have tall tasks ahead this week.
On offense, MSU is still led by Jake Magnum. Magnum is batting .417 this season and has 19 RBI. Brent Rooker and Reid Humphreys lead the team in RBI with 30 each. Top to bottom, MSU still has a solid offensive line-up with six players batting over .300.
The biggest jump in MSU’s offense this year has been in extra base hits. MSU has 87 doubles and ten triples on the season, which is astounding compared to last season when MSU hit 87 doubles and eight triples over the entire season.
MSU will get a chance to show the nation what they have this weekend. Game one will not be televised, but both games two and three will be on national television. Game one starts at 7 p.m. tonight. Game two will start tomorrow at 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU. Game three starts at 12 p.m. on Sunday and will be televised on ESPN2.