No. 25 State Heads To Knoxville For First SEC Road Series
March 24, 2016 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Following a pair of midweek games at home, the No. 25 Mississippi State softball team (20-9, 1-2 SEC) will hit the road to continue Southeastern Conference play against No. 17 Tennessee (22-8, 3-3 SEC) at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
The three-game series commences Friday at 5 p.m. CT and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Game two Saturday is set for a 1 p.m. CT first-pitch as well.
TICKETS
Fans can purchase general admission tickets to the games at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium for $10 each.
FOLLOW LIVE
All three games will air on SEC Network+, exclusively through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. Voice of State softball Anthony Craven will call games two and three on HailStatePLUS to provide fans with an additional way to follow the game. Live stats will also be available for all games and can be found at HailState.com.
Watch Friday's Game | Watch Saturday's Game | Watch Sunday's Game
LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs are coming off a split in its midweek games against Southland Conference teams. MSU came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Southeastern Louisiana 10-2 in six innings Tuesday and fell in a pitching duel to Central Arkansas 1-0 Wednesday in a nationally-televised game on SEC Network.
Junior Amanda Ivy has paced the Bulldogs offensively as of late, having reached base safely in eight-straight games. Ivy went a combined 5-for-6 with two runs batted in and one run scored in MSU's two midweek games.
TEAM & PLAYER NOTES
· MSU is in its 25th season of varsity softball. The Bulldogs also fielded squads from 1982-86. In the previous 19 season stretch, MSU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 12 times, including seven of the last nine and four consecutive postseason events.
· State is 7-4 this season against teams that made the 2015 NCAA Tournament with 20 more such games remaining on the schedule. 12 of those games will be against teams that made the 2015 Women's College World Series, including UT, while six others will be against 2015 Super Regional Teams.
· The Bulldogs are 31 in the first RPI ranking of the season, announced Monday, and will play 21 games vs. top 30 RPI teams over the remainder of the regular season.
· In the circle the MSU staff continues to impress as its 1.33 earned run average ranks second in the SEC and fourth in all of Division I. Individually, freshman Cori Cooper (0.90 – 6th), freshman Regan Green (1.06 – 10th) and sophomore Holly Ward (1.08 – 11th) each have an ERA that ranks in the top 15 nationally.
· MSU opened SEC play last weekend vs. a No. 3 Auburn team that ranked first in the nation in scoring (10.52 runs per game) and only scored eight total over three games (28 innings).
THE BULLDOGS VS. THE VOLS
UT leads the all-time series with MSU 34-17 and holds a 15-10 advantage in Knoxville. State was swept by the Volunteers in their 2015 series in Starkville during Super Bulldog Weekend. The last time the two sides met in Knoxville, MSU took the series by picking up victories in games one and three.
ON DECK FOR MSU
State will return home for a five-game homestand set to begin Wednesday, March 30 with a non-conference meeting with UAB that is set to be nationally televised on the SEC Network. First pitch from Nusz Park is set for 6:02 p.m. CT.
GET SOCIAL WITH STATE
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.”
