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Mississippi State vs Florida Baseball Preview

By Gardner Thornhill

Jun 21, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders infielder Cory Raley (4) steals second base against the Florida Gators in the fourth inning in the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 21, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders infielder Cory Raley (4) steals second base against the Florida Gators in the fourth inning in the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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After winning their first two games in Hoover, Mississippi State’s prize is a game with SEC Champion Florida for a semifinal bid in the SEC Tournament.

Mississippi State shocked me and most fans after a thrilling, 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Arkansas, and with that comes time to face the SEC champion, Florida Gators.

Florida is coming into the game riding high after their own 5-4 win over Auburn, which ended at around 1:00 a.m. Thursday.

Florida, obviously, provides many problems for the Bulldogs heading into their showdown Friday morning.

The Gators will have the benefit of resting a whole day over Mississippi State, but thankfully the game will begin later than the 9:30 a.m. start time that the Bulldogs have had to deal with in their first two games.

Florida is an opponent the Bulldogs haven’t seen this season. The Gators get the job done behind their stellar arms. The Gators have not yet named a starting pitcher, but it is expected to be their usual Saturday starter Brady Singer.

Singer has been quite impressive at times this year with a 7-3 record, and an E.R.A. of 2.67. The Sophomore from Eustis, Florida has looked shaky though in his last three starts, giving up 12 runs in 20 innings pitched against Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Alabama.

The Bulldogs have also not named a starter, but Cannizaro did state in his post game press conference that he would either select Jacob Billingsley or Cole Gordon. Cole Gordon did get the start in Game 3 of the LSU series, and was tabbed for 5 runs in 3.1 innings against the Tigers. The projections would lean toward Billingsley starting, because of his work against the Tigers, which he pitched 1 inning of no hit relief, but Billingsley also had a bad outing early last week in a game against Troy, where he gave up 2 runs in 2.1 innings of work, and had command issues, which have plagued him all season.

Player to Watch

The Florida Gator to watch in this game is Junior, JJ Schwarz.

Schwarz is batting .294 on the season, which is third on the Gator team, as well as leading the team in Home Runs at 9, and R.B.I.’s at 46.

Projected Starters

Although either coach has given a definite answer on how they will trot to the hill on Friday, we have pretty good idea of, who will be pitching in this match up.

Florida: Brady Singer: (7-3, ERA: 2.67)

Mississippi State: Jacob Billingsley: (1-2, ERA: 5.12) or Cole Gordon: (2-2, ERA: 5.14)

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How to Watch

TV: SEC NETWORK

Live Streaming: Watch ESPN

Radio: Bulldog Sports Radio

Final Thoughts

Many will give the Bulldogs little chance to win this game with our only starting options with ERA’s over 5, but this is a must win game for the Bulldogs hosting situation, with Florida have a #4 RPI ranking. This projects as a close, tough game that will come down to who makes the big hit.

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