Bulldogs Host Middle Tennessee In Tuesday Doubleheader
May 25, 2016 | Softball
Mississippi State (27-8) will meet the Blue Raiders (8-22-1) for just the third time in school history looking to improve on a 23-6 non-conference record in 2006 that has already included 10 games against NCAA regional competition from last season. Last season, MState split a doubleheader with MTSU in Murfreesboro, Tenn., including a five-run comeback win for the Blue Raiders in the nightcap.
State's double dip with Middle Tennessee was originally scheduled for March 16 but was rescheduled due to an outbreak of the flu virus that affected much of the MTSU roster. Tuesday's action from the MSU Softball Field can be followed in-progress via a live stats link at the official Internet home for the MSU athletic department, www.MStateAthletics.com.
With the way we played Sunday, we have to look out for everybody right now, said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. Hopefully we will show up a little bit better tomorrow and we're hoping the weatherman will cooperate with us too. We just need to play, we need to get some confidence back and we need to get our team back to where it was before. We're right in the middle of conference season and that's not the time to go into a slump.
The good thing is, we were 4-1 last week and we didn't play very well. If we can get back to where we were playing consistently, defensively especially, I think we'll be fine. It gives us an opportunity to do that with a doubleheader on Tuesday.
The Blue Raiders wrapped up play at the Louisville Classic on Sunday with a 9-1 mercy rule victory over Toledo, less than 24 hours after dropping a 4-2 setback to ninth-ranked Michigan. The win over the Rockets snapped a five-game losing skid for MTSU, while also helping the Blue Raiders match their overall win total from a season ago.
Carrying a .243 team batting clip, Middle Tennessee will be led into Starkville by a pair of .300 hitters in sophomore catcher Katie Mielke and junior infielder Muriel Ledbetter. Mielke is tops on the squad with a .339 (21-for-62) batting average, but Ledbetter (.325, 13 RBI) leads the team in nearly every other offensive category, adding to her team-best six home runs with a two-run shot in MTSU's loss to the national champion Wolverines on Saturday.
From the circle, rookie righthander Laura Moore (5-9, 3.70 ERA) has proven to be the workhorse for the four-armed staff this season having worked nearly 41 percent of the innings this season, but possesses a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 1-to-1. Trish White (2-7, 4.31) will likely handle the duties in the other half of Tuesday's double dip. White has walked 23 and struck out just 19 in 63.1 innings pitched this season.
Sophomore Ashley Katinas (1-3, 4.38) went 1-1 against the Bulldogs in last season's matchups.
Following Tuesday's games in Starkville, MSU will pack up its show and head to Hattiesburg on Thursday for a 6 p.m. tilt with Southern Miss (17-21), before returning home again this weekend for a three-game series against Florida (26-11, 5-4 SEC).
