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Mississippi State Baseball Preview: Bulldogs Travel to Mizzou in Need of Wins

By Ethan Lee

HATTIESBURG, MS - SEPTEMBER 5: Bully mascot for the Mississippi State Bulldogs during their game against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on September 5, 2015 at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 34-16. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
HATTIESBURG, MS - SEPTEMBER 5: Bully mascot for the Mississippi State Bulldogs during their game against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on September 5, 2015 at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Mississippi State Bulldogs defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles 34-16. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /
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Mississippi State Baseball Needs to Beat the Missouri Tigers

For Mississippi State Baseball to turn this season around, the Bulldogs must beat Missouri in this series. They don’t necessarily need a sweep, though that would be nice. Mississippi State doesn’t even need to win each of these games by large scoring margins, though that would also be nice.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs just need to take two of the three games that they are playing against the Mizzou Tigers this weekend. Unfortunately, that feat is easier said (or written) than it is done.

Mizzou is 17-5 on the season and they’re on a two game winning streak. Last weekend, the Tigers  battled the Bayou Bengals in Baton Rouge and only came away with a single win, a victory on Saturday. But, at home, Missouri is a tough team to face. The Tigers are 12-1 when playing in Columbia.

And Mississippi State needs at least two wins from the Tigers. On the road. After the Bulldogs have hit yet another rough patch to the season. This series will certainly be an interesting one, to say the least.

Mizzou has been pitching well this year

Mizzou has a rather large pitching staff and, as a collective unit, they’ve started out this season fairly well. The Tigers have had 18 different pitchers take the mound this year and their staff has a 3.21 ERA.

When it comes to strikeouts, the Tigers are led by Michael Plassmeyer with 43 in 32.0 innings pitched. According to Mississippi State’s game notes, he’ll almost certainly start on Saturday. The Tigers will likely start lefty TJ Sikkema tonight. Sikkema has a 2.25 ERA and is looking to add to his 15 strikeouts tonight.

Mississippi State will counter with Konnor Pilkington. Though this season hasn’t been great, Pilkington has still been a solid starter for the Bulldogs. He hasn’t received the run support that he’s needed for most of the season, so he has a 1-2 record, but he’s notched a 1.55 ERA this season.

Bulldogs Bats Will Need to Come Alive

Last weekend, the Mississippi State Bulldogs got swept by the Vanderbilt Commodores to open SEC play.  In those three games, MSU scored a total of 4 runs. The Commodores put 19 runs on the board.

It was ugly and painful and the Bulldogs will need to erase that from their memories. During this past week, Mississippi State crushed Alcorn State by 16 runs and then won 11-5 over Texas Southern University.

Gary Henderson’s crew will need similar performances from the midweek matchups in order to take the series from the Tigers. Mississippi State’s bullpen has been shaky at times, so the Bulldogs will need some run support this weekend.

This season isn’t over. Not by a long shot. But if MSU can’t win this weekend, they’ll certainly have a long season up ahead. The month of April is full of talented SEC teams that’ll be looking to add to their postseason resumes. MSU is simply looking to stay above water right now. A couple of wins this weekend, plus two more next weekend, will do a lot of good for Mississippi State Baseball this year.

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