Road Trip Continues As No. 21 Diamond Dawgs Head To Texas

Friday, February 23

Corpus Christi, Texas (Whataburger Field)

2:00 PM

Mississippi State

UC Santa Barbara

State will play four games in four days as part of its 12-day, nine-game road trip that began Wednesday.

Road Trip Continues As No. 21 Diamond Dawgs Head To Texas

February 22, 2018 | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF)Buy Tickets Watch Sunday's Game Watch Monday's Game LISTEN | Live Radio

JACKSON, Miss. – With a win under its belt, Mississippi State (1-3) will head west continue its 12-day road trip with four games in four days in Texas.

The Diamond Dawgs will spend the weekend in Corpus Christi for three games in the Kleberg Bank College Classic at Whataburger Field before heading to Edinburg for a single game at UT Rio Grande Valley on Monday.

State is currently ranked No. 21 by D1 Baseball and No. 25 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

In the midst of a 12-game span away from home to open the season, it is the longest stretch without a home game to begin a season for State since the 1982 season (14 games) and the longest span without a home game since 1982 (14 games).

State will begin their weekend on Friday, with a 2 p.m. CT first pitch against UC Santa Barbara. MSU will then take on Nicholls State at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Monday's first pitch against UT Rio Grande Valley is set for 7 p.m. from the UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

Tickets remain available for this weekend in Corpus Christi, along with next weekend's Shriner's College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston and can be purchased here.

Game Notes | Live Stats

NEED TO KNOW

Gary Henderson moved from Assistant Coach to Interim Head Coach on Feb. 20, 2018 following the resignation of Andy Cannizaro. Henderson is a 29-year coaching veteran who has served as the MSU pitching coach since June 2016.
A total of 11 newcomers made their MSU debut through the first four games of the season (Tanner Allen, Jordan Anderson, JP France, Justin Foscue, Marshall Gilbert, Josh Hatcher, Rowdey Jordan, Jared Liebelt, Zach Neff, Alex Pener and Jordan Westburg).
MSU had four true freshman in its Opening Day lineup for the first time since at least 1995.
The Diamond Dawgs have a new look in 2018 with 14 newcomers (8 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 2 juniors and 2 graduate transfers).
With SEC Triple Crown Winner Brent Rooker having been selected in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, State will have to look elsewhere for offensive production in 2018 and the possibilities are there as MSU returns 50% of its hits, 36% of its extra-base hits and 39% of its RBIs from 2017.
After preseason injuries have ruled Graham Ashcraft and Preseason All-American Spencer Price out for the entirety of the 2018 season, on the mound MSU is returning 55% of its wins, 59% of its innings pitched and 38% of its saves.

PRESEASON HONORS
Jake Mangum – OF
- Third Team Preseason All-American (D1 Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game)
- First Team Preseason All-SEC (Coaches)
- USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List

Konnor Pilkington – SP
- Second Team Preseason All-American (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game)
- Third Team Preseason All-American (D1 Baseball)
- USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List

Spencer Price – RP
- Third Team Preseason All-American (Collegiate Baseball)

Riley Self – RP
- NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List

PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday – MSU LHP Konnor Pilkington (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. UCSB LHP Jack Dashwood (0-0, 6.23 ERA
Saturday – MSU LHP Ethan Small (0-1, 11.25 ERA) vs. NSU RHP Parker White (0-0, 3.86 ERA)
Sunday – MSU RHP Jacob Billingsley (0-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. TAMU-CC RHP Jackson Owens (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

WEATHER FORECAST
Friday Forecast: High 77, Low 68 – Mostly Sunny – 10% Chance of Rain
Saturday Forecast: High 80, Low 59 – Partly Cloudy/Wind – 10% Chance of Rain
Sunday Forecast: High 62, Low 54 – Scattered Thunderstorms – 60% Chance of Rain

LIVE VIDEO
With Texas A&M – Corpus Christi hosting this weekend's Kleberg Bank College Classic, only the games they participate in will be streamed, meaning the only State game to be streamed will be Sunday when the Diamond Dawgs take on the Islanders.

Monday's game at UTRVG will be streamed live, free of charge.

LIVE STATS
All season long, fans can follow the action with pitch-by-pitch updates through live stats. Visit the Diamond Dawgs' schedule page and click on the "Live Stats" link associated with the appropriate game.

LIVE AUDIO & RADIO
None of this weekend's games will air on the Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network as they will be "local only" broadcasts, meaning they can only be heard through WKBB-FM (100.9) or WLZA-FM (96.1) in the Starkville area.

Despite the broadcasts not airing outside of Starkville on the radio, fans are still able to listen to an audio stream of all games through HailState.com/Plus.

TICKETS
Tickets are still available for this weekend's games in Corpus Christi, in addition to three games next weekend at Shriners College Classic, which will take place at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

FOLLOW THE DIAMOND DAWGS
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."