Diamond Dawgs to host 15th NCAA Regional at Dudy Noble Field, Face familiar foe in Samford
STARKVILLE – The No. 3 Mississippi State baseball program enters the NCAA Starkville Regional as the No. 7 national seed and will face a familiar foe in Samford at 2 p.m. on Friday (June 4) at Dudy Noble Field to open regional play.
The Diamond Dawgs will meet Samford for the third time in its last eight NCAA postseason trips, as SU won a pair of games over MSU in 2012, before the State claimed a 9-8 meeting that kickstarted its 2018 run to the College World Series. Overall, Samford leads the postseason series, 2-1, while State owns the overall edge in the series – which dates back to 1909 – 37-10.
Mississippi State will host an NCAA Regional for the 15th time in program history. State owns a 42-18 record over 14 NCAA Regionals played at Dudy Noble Field, as well as a seven-game win streak in regional games played in Starkville.
Will Bednar will make the start in game one of the Regional and enters with a 6-1 overall record in 14 appearances. It will mark his 12th start of the season, as he looks to add to his 101 strikeouts in 64 innings this season.
The duo of Tanner Allen and Landon Sims each earned All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on Thursday, with Allen grabbing first team honors and Sims second team laurels. Allen’s selection to the first team marks the sixth time since 2021 a Diamond Dawg has earned a spot on the first team from the publication.
Samford enters with a 35-22 record and won three games en route to the Southern Conference tournament title last weekend in Greenville, South Carolina. The Bulldogs won the Blue Division of the SoCon with a 20-10 record.
Gameday Info
Friday, June 4 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Will Bednar, RHP, Fr. (2Y)
SU: Samuel Strickland, LHP, Jr.
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Friday, June 4 (7 p.m.)
Probable Starters
CU: Thomas Harrington, RHP, Fr.
VCU: Bradford Webb, RHP, Gr.
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Quick Hitters
- Mississippi State is making its 39th appearance in the NCAA Baseball Championship, which ranks No. 9 in the tournament’s history. In 11 of those, Mississippi State has advanced to the College World Series, which is No. 13 among Division I programs.
- Tanner Allen and Landon Sims are among the semifinalists for the Howser Trophy, given to the national player of the year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Logan Tanner is a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award, given to the top collegiate catcher.
- Named first-team All-America by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, Tanner Allen extended his hitting streak to 18 games at the SEC Tournament, which is the longest in his career. His reached base streak sits at 21 games, which is the second 20-plus game streak of his career.
- Allen had a monster SEC season and was named SEC Player of the Year and first-team All-SEC after he hit a league-best .411 in conference play. He also led the SEC in conference-only games in total bases (87), RBIs (34) and was the only SEC hitter with 50-plus hits (51).
- Allen was the only SEC hitter to rank among the top 10 in batting average, runs scored, hits and RBIs overall in the regular season and was one of two Power 5 hitters to finish the regular season with 70 hits, 50 runs scored and 50 RBIs (Braden Boissiere, Arizona).
- Allen is State’s third first-team selection by Collegiate Baseball in the last five seasons, while Sims’s second-team nod gives MSU multiple All-Americans in four of the last five seasons. Allen joins the likes of Chris Stratton (2012), Hunter Renfroe (2013), Jonathan Holder (2013), Brent Rooker (2017) and Ethan Small (2019) as first-team All-Americans per Collegiate Baseball.
- Rowdey Jordan earned second-team All-SEC and was one of two SEC hitters to reach base in all 30 games of the conference season and led the SEC in conference-only games with 34 runs scored. He finished with a .333 average in SEC play to rank No. 11 in the conference.
- Landon Sims has dominated hitters this season and was tabbed second-team All-SEC and earned second-team All-America from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
- Of Sims’ eight saves this season seven came in SEC play. Overall, he has allowed just six runs in 37 1/3 innings of work with 74 strikeouts. Opponents hit just .153 against the right hander and he has walked just 13 and not hit a batter all season.
- Head coach Chris Lemonis notched his 100th win at Mississippi State (130 games coached) against Missouri on May 13 and is the fastest head coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark. Pat McMahon reached the 100-win mark in his 146th career game as head coach, while Ron Polk took 150 games to reach the 100-win mark.
- Mississippi State is 29-1 in midweek contests over the last three seasons, including a perfect 11-0 mark during the 2021 season. The Diamond Dawgs went 15-0 in the midweek during the 2019 season and was 3-1 in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short.
- MSU posted back-to-back 20-win SEC seasons for the first time in program history. It is the fourth time overall that MSU won 20 SEC games, with the 2016, 2019 and 2021 teams reaching the mark and the 1989 squad posting a school-standard 21 wins.
- With 40 wins on the season, it is the 23rd time in program history that Mississippi State has reached the 40-win mark.
NCAA Tournament Nuggets
- Mississippi State will host an NCAA Regional for the 15th time in program history from June 4-7, with its opening game against long-time foe Samford.
- Campbell and VCU round out the Starkville Regional field. All games will be played at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., with Monday’s if necessary game slated for 3 p.m.
- State is making its 39th appearance in the NCAA Championships, which ranks No. 9 in the tournament’s history. In 11 of those, Mississippi State has advanced to the College World Series, which is No. 13 among Division I programs.
- The Bulldogs have made 32 NCAA Regional appearances and own an 84-43 (.661) record all-time on their way to 15 regional titles.
- Mississippi State owns a 42-18 record over 14 NCAA Regionals played at Dudy Noble Field, as well as a seven-game win streak in regional games played in Starkville.
- The Diamond Dawgs are the only program in the country to an active streak of four straight NCAA Super Regionals.
- Mississippi State owns a 14-2 record in regional play alone during that span as well as a seven-game win streak going back to the 2018 Tallahassee Regional.
- State will open all-time record ledgers against two Starkville Regional opponents, having never played No. 2 seed VCU and No. 3 seed Campbell.
- MSU owns a 37-10 all-time record against Starkville Regional No. 4 seed Samford and a 1-2 record against SU in NCAA Tournament play. The two teams last met in regional play at the 2018 Tallahassee Regional, where State eliminated Samford, 9-8.
Scouting the Opponent
- Samford enters with a 35-22 overall record and have won four straight games dating back to the final game of the regular season. They finished 20-10 in Southern Conference play, won the Blue Division and finished second to Wofford (21-9).
- As an offense, Samford is averaging 7.2 runs and 9.6 hits per game. The pitching staff is allowing a nearly identical 7.2 runs and 9.6 hits per game.
- Junior Tyler McManus leads Samford with a .335 batting average and sits No. 2 in SoCon in RBIs (52). He has 11 home runs and 41 runs scored.
- Sophomore Sonny DiChiara is hitting .265 with a team-high .425 on-base percentage. He is No. 11 nationally in walks (47) and No. 37 in the NCAA in home runs (15).
- Zach Hester and Samuel Strickland are No. 2 nationally in games started (15). Strickland has fanned 69 batters in 76 1/3 innings and Hester limits opponents to a .224 average in 55 2/3 innings.
- Carson Cupo is No. 15 nationally in victories (9) in 28 relief appearances with two saves.
Series Notes
- Mississippi State and Samford will meet for the 48th time overall and the second time in 2021 to open the 2021 NCAA Starkville Regional, with State owning a 37-10 edge all time.
- The first meeting came in 1909 when MSU swept three-straight games from the Samford in Starkville.
- With Friday’s meeting, four of the last 10 meetings will have come at an NCAA Regional. State lost a pair of games to Samford at the 2012 Tallahassee Regional, before grabbing a win in the 2018 event at Florida State.
- These two teams met in an elimination game at the Tallahassee Regional in 2018, a game won by Mississippi State, 9-8, on June 3.
- Head coach Chris Lemonis is 2-0 against Samford as a head coach. In 2019, State traveled to Samford and claimed a 6-4 victory, its first trip to J.L. Griffin Field since 2002. The Diamond Dawgs also won a 10-2 contest on March 16, 2021.