Bulldogs and Tigers meet for the 61st time in program history on Wednesday at Dudy Noble Field
STARKVILLE – After a pair of top 10 victories on opening weekend at the State Farm College Baseball Classic, the No. 5 Mississippi State baseball program will open the home portion of its schedule against Jackson State at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24.
The Bulldogs and Tigers will meet for the 61st time in program history and 38th time at Dudy Noble Field since the first meeting in 1976. The last meeting came during the 2019 campaign, a 17-4 MSU victory, as the Dawgs own a current three-game winning streak.
In three games at Globe Life Stadium last weekend, Mississippi State toppled a pair of top 10 opponents in No. 9 Texas and No. 3 Texas Tech. State averaged seven runs per game and out-hit each of their three opponents at the plate, as the pitching staff piled up 41 strikeouts and limited the opposition to a poultry .196 batting average against.
Jackson State dropped each of its first three contests at Mercer to start the 2021 campaign. The team hit .128 as a team, while Mercer hit .333 against the JSU pitching staff to account for the 33-0 margin of victory in the three-game series.
Gameday Info
Wednesday, March 24 (4 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: TBA
JSU: TBA
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Quick Hitters
- Mississippi State opened the season with a pair of wins over ranked teams for the first time since the 1993 Winn-Dixie Classic in New Orleans when it topped No. 9 Texas in the season opener and No. 3 Texas Tech in the tournament finale at the State Farm College Baseball Classic. In 1993, State defeated No. 1 LSU and No. 21 Tulane and New Orleans to open the season 3-0.
- In its last 15 regular season games against ranked opponents, State is 13-2 dating back to the 2019 season. The Diamond Dawgs are 5-0 against top 10 teams and have won eight of its last nine regular season contests over ranked foes.
- The Mississippi State pitching staff struck out 41 batters on the weekend, marking the second time since 2019. It is the second-most strikeouts in a three-game series for the team since at least 2005, just behind the 43 punchouts against Youngstown State to open the 2019 campaign.
- Junior Josh Hatcher extended his hitting streak to a career-long 10 games over the weekend with hits in all three games played. Hatcher ended 2020 on a seven-game hitting streak and started 2021 with at least one hit in each game. His opening weekend included a pair of multi-hit games and he drove in one RBI in each contest.
- After reaching base in the last 10 games of the 2020 season, junior Rowdey Jordan had a loud opening weekend to extend that streak to 13 straight games on base. Of his four hits on the weekend, three went for extra bases, including a pair of home runs. He plated a team-high six RBIs and scored three times. He had one extra base hit in each game and scored one run in all three contests.
- Freshman (3Y) starting pitcher Christian MacLeod allowed one run on four hits in an Opening Day start against nationally-ranked Texas in a no decision. He fanned seven and didn’t walk a batter and left with a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning.
- Freshman (2Y) Landon Sims was named the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week and the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Performer of the Week after retiring all 12 batters he faced in four innings of relief work to earn the win over No. 9 Texas. He fanned 10 of the 12 batters he faced, with a ground out and flyout accounting for the other two outs.
- Graduate student Scotty Dubrule sits among the top 15 among active Division I student-athletes in six offensive categories, including the No. 1 spot in games played (200), at bats (781) and hits (252).
- Junior Tanner Allen also ranks among the top active NCAA student-athletes in a host of categories. He is among the top 25 in RBIs (13th; 116) and hits (23rd; 183).
Series Notes
- Mississippi State and Jackson State will meet for the 61st time in program history, with the Bulldogs owning a 52-8 edge in the series.
- The first meeting between the two programs came in 1976, as the two teams split a pair of games that season. The Bulldogs won 5-3, before the Tigers won 9-8, in a doubleheader on April 21.
- MSU has won three straight games against JSU, taking a 17-4 decision in 2019, a 12-1 victory in 2018 and a 3-1 triumph in 2014 in the NCAA Lafayette Regional.
- All-time, MSU is 35-2 at home, 11-3 on the road and 6-3 in neutral site meetings against JSU.