No. 5 Mississippi State (21-8-1, 6-3) will face their toughest test this weekend in their series against No. 1 Florida (28-3, 7-2) in Gainesville. The Gators also boast the number one RPI (Rating Percentage Index) in the country and would prove to be a valuable win for MSU.
John Cohen talked about the series after MSU’s mid-week game against UT-Martin.
“We are going to go down and play the best team in the country this weekend,” said MSU Head coach John Cohen. “I think our kids are looking forward to that opportunity and are looking forward to that challenge.”
MSU will start potential top-ten draft pick Dakota Hudson on Friday and start fellow dominant pitcher Austin Sexton in game two on Saturday. MSU has not announced their Sunday starter, which has been the team’s biggest weakness this season. In all three of MSU’s series wins, they have won on Friday and Saturday then lost in game three on Sunday.
Preseason All-American Dakota Hudson is living up to the hype with his performance this season. With a 4-1 record, he is boasting an ERA below one at .92 and has given up no earned runs in SEC play. He threw 56 strikeouts on the season in 48.2 innings pitched. Sexton also had a strong season, throwing a 2.98 ERA and has 51 strikeouts in 45.1 innings pitched. He is 3-1 on the season.
But day three has been an issue. So far, day three starter Daniel Brown has struggled heavily. Brown pitched 28 innings and averaged a 5.46 ERA with a 2-2 record. Tuesday night’s game against UT-Martin was almost an audition for the Sunday job. The Bulldogs used eight pitchers and shut out UT-Martin 14-0.
The starter on Tuesday was Konner Pilkington, and many feel he is the favorite to start Sunday if Brown does not. In his one inning pitched, he threw 16 pitches, gave up no hits and threw eleven strikes.
Pilkington talked about the Sunday starting spot being up in the air.
“It (the Sunday starting spot) is up for grabs,” said Pilkington. “Everybody is auditioning for it. I really do want it.”
On offense, MSU has many sluggers. Led by Jake Magnum, who has a .439 batting average and has 15 RBI. Jack Kruger is also having a standout year. Kruger has four home runs and 27 RBI to go with a .357 batting average. MSU has seven players who have started more than 20 games batting above a .300 average this season.
Magnum bragged on MSU’s batting depth during the week.
“We’re playing great,” Mangum said. “We’re deep. We have a lot of guys in the line-up who can hit. So we are ready for it (The series this weekend).”
The Gators are the top team in the SEC. A win would be a huge RPI boost for MSU. It will be a tough matchup as the Gators have huge pitching depth. Florida has five pitchers with at least three wins and no losses. They are also batting .300 as a team. They are coming off of a huge series sweep over previously ranked No. 1 team Texas A&M.
First pitch of game one will be this Friday at 4:30 p.m. Game two will be Saturday at 6 p.m, and game three on Sunday will be the only televised game. Game three starts at 3 p.m and will be televised on the SEC Network.
