Diamond Dawgs To Take On Troy In Hoover

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Coming off of a Southeastern Conference road series win, Mississippi State will continue its seven-game road trip with a neutral-site matchup with Troy on Wednesday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.

The Diamond Dawgs (26-22) and Trojans (32-16) will face off with a 6 p.m. CT first pitch in Hoover, Ala. State will be the designated home team in what will be MSU's final non-conference contest of the regular season. Tickets for Wednesday's game are available for as low as $5.

With no midweek, State went 2-1 last week with a series win at Alabama that included a pair of comeback victories. The Bulldogs erased a six-run deficit on Friday and a three-run deficit on Sunday. A balanced offensive attack aided MSU as nine different Diamond Dawgs recorded an RBI and five notched an extra-base hit.

MSU is 4-0 all-time against Troy with the two sides having last met at Dudy Noble Field during the 2017 season. Wednesday's game will mark the first neutral-site meeting between the two sides. The Bulldogs won the only meeting between the two sides in Alabama at Troy in 2016.

VIDEO: Gary Henderson and Jake Mangum preview MSU's four-game week away from home

Game Notes | Live Stats

NEED TO KNOW

In 19 of State's 26 wins thus far, opponents have been held to four runs or less. In three of the remaining six, opponents scored just five runs.
The Diamond Dawgs have 14 comeback wins on the year (26 wins total), seven of which came in the month of March with the other five having come in April (three against Ole Miss and two against Arkansas). In 2017, 25 of State's 40 wins were come-from-behind victories.
After an up-and-down journey through the first 38 games of the season, MSU showed glimpses of what it is capable of. After going 5-2 against Arkansas, Ole Miss and Texas A&M in April, State improved to 6-1 on the year against top-five teams with 11 wins against ranked opponents this season.
Holding a RPI of 92 on April 1, State has climbed 54 spots to No. 38 in just over one month by posting a 10-6 mark in the month of April with eight of those wins having come against ranked teams, six against teams ranked in the top five and five against top-three teams.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, six of those games will come against teams with an RPI of 20 or better (No. 1 Florida and No. 18 Kentucky). The remaining game will be this week's matchup with Troy (No. 44).
Considering its cumulative opposition for the 2018 season, the Diamond Dawgs have the fourth-toughest schedule in all of Division I baseball with a winning percentage of .601 (1497-993-1) on the year. State's seven remaining regular-season games rank as the second-toughest remaining schedule in the country as future opposition has a .702 winning percentage.
MSU is 22-9 when holding opponents to five or less runs, 12-2 when holding others to two or less runs and 4-13 when allowing six or more runs. State is also 17-0 when scoring six or more runs, 15-3 when scoring first and 10-2 when having scored in the first inning.
With 104 doubles on the year, State leads the SEC and ranks 12th in the country in the category. 13 different Diamond Dawgs have tallied a double on the year, with Jake Mangum's 17 being a team best. Mangum ranks second in the league, while Hunter Stovall is sixth with 14.
Along with holding a league-best five triples, Tanner Allen ranks 21st nationally in the category.
Mangum's 69 hits are the third-most in the conference and rank 36th in the country. Stovall ranks ninth in the SEC with 63 hits on the year.
Freshmen Justin Foscue and Rowdey Jordan have been two of State's best hitters in the last 10 games. Jordan has started in all 10 games, hitting .455 (15-of-33) with five doubles, three home runs and five RBIs. Having played in nine games and started in eight during the span, Foscue is .387 (12-of-31) with four doubles, one home run and eight RBIs.
Foscue is currently riding a 16-game reached base streak, with an extra-base hit in his last five games.
While Mangum leads MSU in multi-hit games (20), Hunter Stovall (17), Tanner Allen (16) and Josh Hatcher (11) are the next closest to their junior center fielder.
The MSU pitching staff has combined for 10+ strikeouts in 17 games this season.
State's staff has also collected 26 or more punch outs in seven of its last 10 weekend series, with five of those having been 29+ strikeout weekends. The Bulldogs most recently struck out Arkansas 29 times.
MSU is second in the SEC in batters struck out looking (135), while Konnor Pilkington leads the league in strikeouts looking (32).
State's staff also ranks fifth in the league in batters struck out (441).
As a team, State ranks second in the league and 14th in the nation in fielding double plays (45).
Stovall ranks second in the SEC in fielding double plays (37), while Luke Alexander ranks fifth in the conference (32) and Hatcher is 11th (25). State is one of two SEC teams with three players in the top 14 (Alabama).
The MSU defense also leads the SEC in runners caught stealing with 20 and is fifth in the league in runners picked off with seven.
In just 31 appearances this year, Marshall Gilbert is fourth in the conference with 10 runners caught stealing. Dustin Skelton ranks ninth with seven.

STATE SPEAKS
Head Coach – Gary Henderson
On playing Troy before Kentucky…
"In our sport, you have to play the next game first. You can't worry about what you have beyond that. We need to go to Hoover and play very well. We need to do that for our record and our conference."

On returning to Lexington to face Kentucky…
"We played against them last year, so we had the initial meeting. It'll be good, but it's about winning the baseball game. You'll see some friends, I have good relationships up there, but I've already gone through that part of life. I'm proud of what those kids have done. I've been coaching long enough to know how important it is to maintain those relationships. They're good, valuable and precious. You have to go win baseball games."

On conversation with pitchers…
"I think the determining factor, in how you talk to the pitchers, comes back to being positive. If you start with positivity, then you can be aggressive. You have to have a real conversation about keeping the ball down. You play at some ballparks, and in some weather conditions, where up-and-away just won't leave the yard. That's the way it is, and that's not the way it is in Lexington. You have to keep it down and utilize both sides of the plate. You have to go back to the absolute basics. You have to stay down, get ahead, change speeds and attack. It's a lot easier said than done, sometimes. That's where you go, and that part doesn't change. Those will be the things that we talk about."

Jr. – Jake Mangum – OF
On the team's offensive development…
"A lot of guys are hitting the ball very well. (Elijah) MacNamee had a big weekend, so it's not just the freshmen. (Rowdey) Jordan had a great weekend, so did (Tanner) Allen. The guys are starting to click with hitting and having a lot of big at bats. Seven runs in the sixth inning on Friday night was huge. You could keep going. We had a lot of big at bats this weekend. There's a list of good at bats, not just a few."

On team mindset…
"We want to win every game. We will take each game one-by-one. We have tomorrow night in Hoover, then we want to go win a series against Kentucky."

PROBABLE STARTERS
Wednesday: MSU RHP Jacob Billingsley (3-3, 4.59 ERA) vs. TROY RHP Sadler Goodwin (3-4, 6.98 ERA)

WEATHER FORECAST
Wednesday Forecast: High 89, Low 64 – Mostly Sunny – 0% Chance of Rain

LIVE VIDEO/TELEVISION
There will be no way to view Wednesday's game live, but fans can still follow along by listening to the Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network.

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
Wednesday's game will air live on the Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network and WKBB 100.9 in Starkville. With Jim Ellis on the call, the contest will also be audio streamed live online at HailState.com/Plus and on TuneIn Radio.

TICKETS
Tickets for Wednesday's game in Hoover are available for as low as $5.

NEXT UP FOR MSU
MSU's seven-game road trip will come to a close this weekend with a three-game series at No. 17 Kentucky. The series will begin Friday in Lexington with a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch on ESPNU.

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."

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Diamond Dawgs To Take On Troy In Hoover

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