Diamond Dogs Continue SEC Play On The Road Against Tennessee
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
The Bulldogs (17-5, 4-2 SEC) take aim at their their third straight SECseries win after opening league competition with 2-1 series wins at homeagainst Vanderbilt and last weekend at fifth-ranked Arkansas.
Senior righthander Alan Johnson (1-2, 4.30) is slated to draw his 23rdcareer start and his sixth of the season in Friday's series-opener.The Pleasant Grove, Ala., hurler leads MSU with 29-1/3 innings pitchedand 26 strikeouts. He'll be matched with UT junior righty LukeHochevar (6-1, 1.76), who enters the weekend leading the SEC in in wins(6), strikeouts (60) and innings pitched (51.0).
Mississippi State holds a 38-19 all-time series lead against theVolunteers, though UT took two of three from the Bulldogs on openinglast March in Starkville. That series win snapped a run of threestraight for State over Tennessee. MSU has also enjoyed a measure ofsuccess against UT in Knoxville, posting a 15-8 mark while winning fiveof six SEC weekend series dating back to 1986.
Junior center fielder Joseph Hunter (.397) enters the weekend with theteam's top batting average and riding an 18-game hitting streak, thesecond-longest active streak in the SEC. Sophomore second basemanJeffrey Rea (.354) of Nettleton, Miss., who hit at a .615 clip (8 of 13)last weekend at Arkansas, sports a .481 batting average against SECcompetition, tops in the league after two weekends of play.
Tennessee, second behind Arkansas in the SEC with a .331 team battingaverage, is led at the plate by junior outfielder Eli Iorg (.387, 7 HR,28 RBI). The Vols are closing out an eight-game home stand with thisweekend's series.
Saturday's MSU-UT game is set for 6 p.m. (CST) and will be televisedregionally on Comcast cable systems, while Sunday's series finale isset for 1 p.m. (CDT).
