Softball Welcomes Penn State For Midweek Matchup
March 07, 2016 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Following another busy yet successful weekend, the Mississippi State softball team (16-3) will take on Penn State (9-10) for a single game Tuesday at Nusz Park.
First pitch between the Bulldogs and Nittany Lions is set for 6 p.m. CT.
TICKETS
Admission is free for all regular season games at Nusz Park.
FOLLOW LIVE
The game will air on SEC Network+, exclusively through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. The voice of Bulldog softball, Anthony Craven, will have the call.
LAST TIME OUT
MSU finished the weekend 4-1 as the Bulldog Slamboree hosts, outscoring its opponents 17-2 and collecting three shutout victories. The five-person staff combined for an earned run average of 0.40 on the weekend, with four of the six pitchers not having allowed a run.
Senior Kayla Winkfield and junior Katie Anne Bailey led the Bulldogs offensively as they hit .462 and .400 respectively and combined for 12 hits and four extra base hits over five games.
POLLS AND VOTES
State is receiving votes in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 and USA Today/NFCA DI Top 25 Coaches Poll.
TEAM & PLAYER NOTES
· The MSU pitching staff has recorded eight shutouts on the season with six of those having come in the last 10 games.
· On the year the staff's 0.96 ERA ranks second in all of Division I softball and the Southeastern Conference
· The staff also ranks second in the league in opposing batting average (.147) and earned runs allowed (14).
· Offensively, the Bulldogs are succeeding at putting runners on base and advancing them as they lead the SEC in sac flies (10) and rank second in hit by pitch (27).
· Winkfield's three triples on the year is tied to tops in the league, while her 11 steals are tied for fifth.
· Freshman Cori Cooper still has hold of the best ERA in the SEC with her 0.29 mark, while classmate Regan Green is ninth (0.81) and sophomore Holly Ward is 11th (0.89).
· Cooper also is holding opponents to a batting average of .091 which leads the conference, as do her marks of hits allowed (7) and runs allowed (1).
· After posting 15 comeback victories in 2015, MSU already has six in 2016 which brings its grand total to 56 under head coach Vann Stuedeman.
STATE VS. THE NITTANY LIONS
MSU leads the all-time series with Penn State 4-2 and has won the last three meetings. The two sides last faced off in the 2015 season with the Bulldogs sweeping a three-game weekend series in Starkville (Feb. 21-22).
ON DECK FOR MSU
State will head west for five games in Long Beach, California as part of the Louisville Slugger Invitational from Friday, March 11 through Sunday, March 13. The Bulldogs will face No. 13 UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton twice.
GET SOCIAL WITH @HAILSTATESB
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.”
