Maroon and White Nation
Fansided

Mississippi State Baseball: Bulldogs vs Ole Miss Series Preview

By Ethan Lee

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: The Mississippi State Bulldogs run in the outfield to warm up before playing the UCLA Bruins during game one of the College World Series Finals on June 24, 2013 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. UCLA won 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 24: The Mississippi State Bulldogs run in the outfield to warm up before playing the UCLA Bruins during game one of the College World Series Finals on June 24, 2013 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. UCLA won 3-1. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Mississippi State Baseball Will Battle the Ole Miss Rebels as the Bulldogs Look to Win Their First SEC Series

The Mississippi State Baseball team is 15-15 and 2-7 in the Southeastern Conference. This weekend, the Bulldogs host Ole Miss in search of a crucial SEC series win. MSU needs wins and improbable victories over their rivals would be a huge motivator for this season.

Mississippi State can’t salvage this season without having a strong showing in the month of April. That starts with the Bulldogs playing Ole Miss, a top 5 team by every meaningful ranking, this weekend. Let’s dive into what this series will look like.

Ole Miss Has a Starting Rotation That Will Challenge the Mississippi State Baseball Team

This year, the Bulldogs have struggled at the plate at times. The team is not hitting well and when Mississippi State does make contact, the Bulldogs can’t seem to string together enough hits in consecutive order to score frequently.

As such, Mississippi State’s starting pitchers often don’t get the run support that they need. Ole Miss not only doesn’t have that issue when it comes to batting, but also the Rebels’ starting pitchers rarely need much run support.

Brady Feigl has a 6-1 record with a 2.23 ERA. Lefty Ryan Rolison has a 3.63 ERA and a 3-3 record. James McArthur has a perfect 4-0 record and a 2.38 ERA. That trio has struck out an impressive total of 121 batters.

Mississippi State has a solid starting rotation itself, but that won’t matter much if they can’t get enough bats behind them to keep the games competitive.

Konnor Pilkington has a 2.61 ERA and has been dominant this season, but because MSU can’t score, he has a 1-4 record. Ethan Small has a 2.41 ERA and his record sits at 2-2. Similarly, Jacob Billingsly has a 2-2 record with a 3.73 ERA. These guys are quality pitchers. They just can’t seem to get the help they need.

Mississippi State Baseball Badly Needs This Series

The Bulldogs haven’t had the season that they’ve dreamed of. Unless, you know, those dreams are nightmares in which everything falls apart in the worst ways possible. Then, well, it’s possible that this is a season that someone somewhere dreamed of. But, those dreams are horrible. We should hate those dreams.

Regardless, even with adversity, the Bulldogs showed some resiliency early on this season after traveling all across the Lone Star State. Mississippi State moved across Texas and played a metric crap ton of opponents in a short amount of time.

They came out of that series with a few good wins. The Bulldogs proved that they could compete, even with the odds stacked against them.

Since then, everything fell apart. And Mississippi State has not been the same.

The month of April may not be kind to Mississippi State baseball. The Bulldogs will face a multitude of talented Southeastern Conference teams that have national title aspirations and coaching staffs that could take them all the way to the final series in Omaha.

MSU doesn’t have that this year. The Bulldogs will need to show resiliency to be able to even make the postseason. Mississippi State baseball is fighting to keep its head above water. The Bulldogs are talented, but it takes more than that to win in the SEC.

Home/Mississippi State Bulldogs News