Mississippi State Baseball Looking for Eighth-Straight Series win Over Ole Miss

Mississippi State baseball travels up to Oxford this weekend to take on rival Ole Miss. The Bulldogs, who are 21-12 overall and 6-6 in the SEC, are looking to build upon last weekend's series win over Georgia and keep gaining momentum towards a return to the postseason.

Beyond adding simply adding wins for this season, the Diamond Dawgs are also looking to extend a series-win streak going against their rivals. Mississippi State has won the series against the Rebels seven-straight times going back to 2016 (the series was not played in 2020).

And though it's a rivalry and anything can happen, the expectation should be to continue that streak in 2024, as Ole Miss is in the midst of a disappointing season. The Rebels are 18-15 overall and 3-9 in SEC play. They have lost seven-straight SEC contests.

The Ole Miss lineup has struggled to produce

Ole Miss hasn't gotten much of of its lineup so far this season. The Rebels rank 11th in the SEC in team batting average at .272, and they are 12th in the conference in total runs scored at 228. They do have a few strong bats, however.

Left-fielder Ethan Lege is batting .351 with eight home runs and 31 RBI. Third-baseman Andrew Fisher leads the team with 13 home runs and 34 RBI while batting .299. Fisher is slugging at .709. First-baseman Jackson Ross leads in on-base percentage at .457.

Mississippi State gets another chance to find consistency from its bats

Against Georgia, MSU's lineup faced a pitching staff they had the chance to take advantage of. The results were mixed. Once again, the Bulldogs face a pitching staff that will give them the opportunity to put runs on the board.

Ole Miss ranks 13th in the SEC in both team ERA (5.85) and batting average allowed (.264). They've walked a SEC-wost 153 batters this season. Riley Maddox (4.46 ERA), Liam Doyle (7.01 ERA), and Mason Nichols (3.93 ERA) make up the likely rotation. Maddox and Doyle both struggled last weekend. Nichols had a solid but short outing in his first start of the season.

Mississippi State needs to handle business this weekend

Setting aside the rivalry, the Diamond Dawgs need a series win in Oxford. They're currently on pace to return to the postseason for the first time since winning the national title in 2021, but even with this series being on the road, they don't want to create more work for themselves down the stretch.

A road series win would give State some breathing room moving ahead, and that's important considering a trip to Arkansas still looms on the schedule. Taking a series loss to a struggling Ole Miss team would only make the task at hand more difficult.

Of course, the rivalry aspect can't fully be set aside. You never want to lose to that school. Ole Miss is going to be desperate here. They need this series badly for the sake of their own season. They also just want to finally win a series against State again. The Rebels will be sure to give their all this weekend, and MSU has to be ready.