MSU Jumps Into ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25
March 22, 2016 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Coming off a dominant weekend from the pitching staff to open Southeastern Conference play, the Mississippi State softball team (19-8, 1-2 SEC) checks in at No. 25 in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll.
This marks the second time this season State has made the poll, the first time came Feb. 23 with a No. 23 ranking.
MSU is 7-3 this season against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams and sits 31st in the latest NCAA RPI ranking with 21 regular-season games coming against top-30 RPI teams.
MSU opened conference play last weekend vs. a No. 3 Auburn team that entered weekend averaging 1.52 home runs per game (fifth in the nation), but only had one over the three-game series. Auburn ranked first in the nation in scoring (10.52 runs per game) and only scored eight total over three games (28 innings). Only four of the eight runs were earned.
The Bulldogs and Tigers played a 14-inning marathon contest Friday in game one of the series, a game in which State starter Alexis Silkwood went 13.1 innings in the circle and set program records for pitcher (216) and batters faced (58). MSU took game two Saturday after having jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings, but dropped the rubber match Sunday.
State will take a break from SEC play with two midweek games at Nusz Park this week against Southeastern Louisiana (Tuesday – 5:30 p.m. CT) and Central Arkansas (Wednesday – 6:30 p.m.) in a nationally-televised matchup on SEC Network. Both contests are rematches from games earlier this season in which the Bulldogs won.
For more information on the MSU softball program, follow “HailStateSB” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all-access coverage of the Bulldogs on SnapChat by searching for “HailStateSnap.”
