No. 12 Bulldogs Open Two-Game Set With No. 21 Southern Miss
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State (28-9-1, 11-6 SEC) faces its stiffest nonconference challenge of the year Tuesday night as the 12th-ranked Bulldogs open a two-game set with No. 21 Southern Miss (30-10) at Dudy Noble Field. Game time both Tuesday and Wednesday is set for 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday's game features a pitching battle between a pair of former Hattiesburg High School teammates, MSU junior righty Jeff Lacher (4-0, 4.22) and USM sophomore right-hander Cliff Russum (5-4, 3.38). Lacher will be making his six starts and nine appearance overall, while Russum, who leads USM in innings pitched (58.2) and strikeouts (59), is making his 10th start of the year.
The Bulldogs, who travel to Florida for a key three-game SEC series this weekend, enter the week two wins away from nailing down an SEC-leading 20th consecutive 30-win campaign. After dropping a pair of hard-fought one-run battles, State claimed a one-run win at South Carolina in the final game of the series. The pitching-dominated series saw the Bulldogs and the defending SEC champions score a combined 13 runs in three games, with MSU pitchers compiling a 1.80 earned run average.
Southern Miss reached the 30-win mark over the weekend by sweeping a three-game series at Memphis. The sweep improved USM's Conference USA-leading league record to 14-4 with four weekend to play.
After a seven-week run, Mississippi State has slipped from its top 10 ranking. MSU enters the week ranked 12th by Baseball America, the Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches poll, the NCBWA writers poll, and 13th by Collegiate Baseball. MSU, eighth in last week's Baseball America ranking, climbed to as high as fifth earlier this season, its highest national ranking since 1993.
MSU and USM are squaring off on the diamond for the 95th and 96th times with this week's meetings at Dudy Noble Field. MSU has won seven of its last 10 against USM and owns a 65-29 overall lead in a series that dates back to 1947. The schools have split their two-game sets the last three seasons. State won last year's series-opener 19-2 in Hattiesburg while USM claimed the finale 6-3. MSU holds a 38-10 edge in games played in Starkville, and Bulldog skipper Ron Polk is 44-16 in 60 career meetings with Southern Miss.
