Diamond Dawgs and Golden Flashes meet for the first time since 2001 NCAA Regional
STARKVILLE – Entering the weekend with three straight wins, the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program will begin a stretch of nine straight games at Dudy Noble Field when it hosts Kent State for a three game series starting on Friday (March 5).
MSU ran its in-state winning streak to 11 games with a 20-strikeout effort from its pitching staff on Wednesday, after taking the final two games from Tulane in walkoff fashion last weekend. State has been up to the task on the mound to start 2021, sitting No. 3 nationally with 13.9 strikeouts per game and enters the weekend with a .202 batting average against.
Offensively, Tanner Allen and Luke Hancock have reached base in each of State’s eight games this season, with Hancock’s reached base streak at nine games dating back to 2020. Allen leads the team with a .367 batting average, 10 runs scored and 11 hits. Hancock has a team-best 10 RBIs and is tied for the team lead in home runs with Kamren James at three apiece.
Kent State is coming off of a weekend sweep of Tennessee Tech, as that series was moved from Tennessee to Ohio last weekend due to weather. The Golden Flashes swept a Saturday double-header and capped the series sweep with a victory on Sunday. Ben Carew leads the team with a .526 batting average and has reached base at least twice in each of the team’s first five games.
Senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Lane has thrown eight innings in two appearances and yet to surrender an earned run on the season. As a staff, Kent State has limited Virginia Tech and Tennessee Tech to a combined .194 batting average in 41 innings of work. The staff has struck out 55 batters, walked 19 and hit seven batters.
Gameday Info
Friday, March 5 (6 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Christian MacLeod, LHP, R-Fr.
KSU: Luke Albright, RHP, Jr.
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Saturday, March 6 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Eric Cerantola, RHP, So.
KSU: Collin Romel, LHP, Sr.
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Sunday, March 7 (Noon)
Probable Starters
MSU: Jackson Fristoe, RHP, Fr.
KSU: Ryan Lane, RHP, Sr.
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Quick Hitters
- Mississippi State jumped in the national polls for the second straight week and owns its highest ranking since the 2014 campaign at No. 2 per Baseball America.
FULL POLLS ON PAGE 4 - The Bulldogs are 12-2 in the last 14 regular season games against ranked opponents dating back to the 2019 season. That includes a 6-0 mark against top 10 teams.
- State has won 11 straight games against in-state opponents dating back to the 2019 season, including two in 2021.
MORE ON PAGE 9 - Against Tulane, State won in walk-off fashion in each of the final two contests, with Luke Hancock’s grand slam ending Saturday’s game in the ninth inning and Tanner Allen’s two-RBI single capping another comeback on Sunday in the ninth inning.
- Prior to the Tulane series, the last time Mississippi State won back-to-back games via walkoff came in 2014 against Tennessee. That season Seth Heck & Cody Walker helped walk-off the Volunteers in back-to-back games, both coming in extra innings.
- In three games against the Green Wave, Allen reached base seven times, scored three runs and drove in at least one RBI in each game. He also threw out a runner at home plate.
- Second-year freshman Landon Sims continued his strong start to the season with another double-digit strikeout effort against Tulane in the middle game of the season. He has struck out 10 batters in each of his appearances in 20201, which marks the first time a Bulldog pitcher had consecutive double-digit K games since Ethan Small in 2019 (vs. Vanderbilt, 5/23 – 11; Central Michigan, 6/1 – 10).
- Sims ranks No. 8 nationally and are No. 2 in the SEC with 20 strikeouts over the first two weeks of the season.
MORE ON PAGE 16 - As a team, Mississippi State ranks No. 3 nationally and No. 2 in the SEC in strikeouts per nine innings (13.9) and have fanned 10-plus batters in six of eight games this season.
- Twenty-one Bulldog pitchers have combined for 111 strikeouts in eight games, including 41 on the opening weekend of the season and 43 last weekend against Tulane. The 43 strikeouts in a three-game series are tied for the most since at least 2005 (2019; vs. Youngstown State).
MORE ON PAGE 11 - Mississippi State will meet Kent State for the first time since defeating the Golden Flashes twice at the 2001 NCAA Columbus Regional.
MORE ON PAGE 3
Scouting the Opponent
- Kent State enters on a three-game winning streak after sweeping its weekend series with Tennessee Tech on Feb. 27-28. This weekend’s series marks the second straight weekend KSU has pivoted its schedule, moving last weekend’s series from Tennessee to Ohio due to weather.
- On opening weekend, the Golden Flashes dropped two games at Virginia Tech.
- KSU has stolen 11 bases in five games and ranks No. 16 nationally with 2.20 stolen bases per game.
- Ben Carew ranks among the top 50 nationally in batting average (No. 18; .526), hits per game (No. 8; 2.00) and on-base percentage (No. 49; .571).
- Ryan Lane has made two appearances in 2021 and has yet to give up an earned run in eight innings of work. He has fanned eight batters, walked two and surrendered two hits.
- He has allowed two unearned runs, both coming last weekend in five innings of work in a start against Tennessee Tech.
Series Notes
- Mississippi State and Kent State will meet for the third time in program history and first since the 2001 NCAA Columbus Regional.
- That season the two teams met on The Ohio State University campus in the NCAA Regional, which MSU won.
- No. 1 seed MSU and No. 4 seed KSU met in the opening game of the regional round, before KSU knocked out host Ohio State and No. 3 seed Delaware to advance to the championship round.
- Of the current 11-team alignment of the Mid-American Conference, MSU has faced off with five MAC programs and a sixth is on the 2021 schedule.
- Eastern Michigan will travel to Starkville next weekend for a three-game series.
- State is 10-2 all-time against the MAC, with Akron (2-0), Central Michigan (1-0), Kent State (2-0), Miami (Ohio) (1-1) and Northern Illinois (4-1) already on the docket.
- The first meeting with the conference came in 1954 when MSU won a 12-3 season-opening decision over Northern Illinois on March 26.