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Mississippi State Baseball facing elimination in SEC Tournament

Mississippi State baseball has to defeat Tennessee to stay alive in the SEC Tournament.

By Andrew Miller

May 23, 2024; Hoover, AL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers celebrate after surviving an elimination game against the Texas A&M Aggies during the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2024; Hoover, AL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers celebrate after surviving an elimination game against the Texas A&M Aggies during the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports / Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports
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Mississippi State baseball's SEC Tournament life is on the line tonight in Hoover. Following last night's defeat to Vanderbilt, State finds itself in an elimination game against 1-seed Tennessee. And as annoying as this is for fans to hear, this game does still have hosting implications for Mississippi State.

Let's look at the Vols...

Tennessee may have the SEC's scariest lineup

Starting pitcher Pico Kohn has a major challenge facing him tonight. The Volunteers are a dominant hitting team. They lead the SEC in several offensive categories including batting average (.314), slugging percentage (.611), runs scored (537), doubles (131), and home runs (144).

Five Vols have hit at least 16 home runs this year, led by second-baseman Christian Moore (.386) with 27. Five other starters alongside Moore are batting at least .300. There's very little small-ball with the Tennessee lineup. They're swinging for the fences every time they step to the plate, and they're great at it.

Vols have the pitching to complement their hitting

Tennessee is strong on the mound too. They're second in the SEC with a team ERA of 3.85 and have issued the fewest walks in the league. They don't register a ton of strikeouts, but they certainly don't allow many easy scoring opportunities.

Right-hander Drew Beam is likely to take the mound for UT. He's 8-2 on the year with a 3.59 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Tennessee had to use a lot of relievers on Wednesday, but none threw more than an inning. They didn't need much bullpen help Thursday, so they should have much of that unit, which is strong, available.

Would this be the game that finally secures State a hosting spot?

State fans are pretty fired up currently on social media because of the conversation around the Diamond Dawgs' hosting chances. There's a feeling that they've been told "just one more win to host" each game for the past week and that the "goalposts keep being moved". Many can't understand how it's even a question at this point.

The reality is State's resume has been a tricky one to peg because 1. there's a wide range of positives and negatives for their resume and 2. their RPI keeps fluctuating. The result has been MSU going back and forth between being in great shape to host to suddenly needing more wins.

The latest projections from this morning have MSU has a 2-seed. Would they go back to being a projected host by beating the Vols? Probably! Would that lock them in? That depends on how their metrics look entering the weekend.

It's certainly frustrating for fans, but for now, all Mississippi State can do is keep trying to win games. The more they win, the less they leave up to chance. They'll try and stay alive in Hoover tonight against the Vols at approximately 6:30 pm CT on the SEC Network.

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