Bulldogs Close Out Regular Season Against No. 7/9 Gators

Friday, May 3

Gainesville, Fla.

5:00 PM

Mississippi State

#7 Florida

Mississippi State closes out the regular season this weekend in Gainesville.

Bulldogs Close Out Regular Season Against No. 7/9 Gators

May 02, 2019 | Softball

Watch Live Live Stats Tickets Game Notes

By Taylor Shirey, Assistant Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – Rounding out the regular season with a matchup against a top-10 opponent, Mississippi State softball (30-19, 7-14 SEC) travels to Gainesville, Florida, to face No. 7/9 Florida (39-13, 11-10 SEC) in a three-game series at Katie Seashole Pressley Stadium.

The series begins on Friday, May 3 at 5 p.m. CT on the SEC Network +. The two programs will meet again on Saturday, May 4 at 5 p.m. CT for game two of the series, which also features an SEC Network + broadcast.

The series finale is set for May 5 with a 12:30 p.m. CT first pitch. Sunday's contest will be featured on the SEC Network as part of "Bases Loaded." The game can be seen in its entirety on the SEC Network +.

Mississippi State is coming off a series sweep against Missouri to claim the program's first SEC series win of the season. It was the Bulldogs first sweep of Missouri in program history, and State's first SEC sweep since 2015.

Sophomore Mia Davidson continues to string together one of the best slugging performances in SEC history as she enters the final weekend of the regular season as the NCAA leader in both home runs (25) and slugging percentage (.993). Davidson is now tied for the SEC's single-season record for home runs and for Mississippi State's career record for homers with 44 to her credit.

Mississippi State is one of two Division I programs to boast two student-athletes with 20 or more home runs as junior Fa Leilua joins Davidson with 21 home runs over her debut season. Leilua currently ranks fourth among all of Division I softball in the category.

In the circle, sophomore Emily Williams leads the squad with an 11-7 record and a team-low 2.34 earned run average. Williams has tossed four shutouts and ranks third in the SEC with three saves in the circle. The right-hander has racked up a team-leading 125 strikeouts, which ranks seventh in the league.

FLORIDA SERIES SCHEDULE
Friday, May 3
Game One – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida – 5 p.m. CT

Saturday, May 4
Game Two – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida – 5 p.m. CT

Sunday, May 5
Game Three – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida – 12:30 p.m. CT

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Against Florida
Overall: Florida leads, 37-19
In Gainesville: Florida Leads, 19-8
Last Meeting: Florida def. Mississippi State, 3-0 (April 21, 2018 in Starkville)
Current Streak: Florida, +6

LEADING OFF

Mississippi State rounds out its regular-season schedule this weekend with a three-game series in Gainesville against No. 7/9 Florida.
The Gators have won six straight contests over Mississippi State as the Bulldogs are searching for their first series win over Florida since 2004.
In the seventh RPI release of the 2019 season, Mississippi State jumps three spots to No. 30. Ten SEC programs currently rank within the top 30 in the latest RPI standings.
Mississippi State is coming off its first series win of the season after sweeping Missouri to close out the year at Nusz Park. It was State's first SEC series sweep since taking three off Arkansas in Fayetteville during the 2015 season.
In her eighth season at the helm of the Bulldogs, head coach Vann Stuedeman has collected 271 career wins and is now just 24 shy from tying the program record for most victories by a MSU head coach. For the seventh time over her eight seasons at the helm of MSU, Stuedeman has led the program to at least 30 wins.
Through the first 49 games of the season, Mississippi State has knocked 66 total home runs, setting a new single-season record for the program.
Slugging her 25th home run of the season on April 28 against Missouri, sophomore Mia Davidson holds Mississippi State's single-season record and is now tied for both the SEC single-season record and Mississippi State's career record with 44 career homers.
Senior Sarai Niu enters the week with 1,141 career putouts to her credit. She is just the fourth Bulldog in program history to record 1,100 or more putouts over a career. She is now 289 putouts shy of MSU's career record held by Cheri Smith (1998-01).
Arizona and Mississippi State are the lone programs in all of Division I softball to have two student-athletes with 20+ home runs this season as both sophomore Mia Davidson (25) and junior Fa Leilua (21) rank first and fourth, respectively, in all of Division I softball.
Striking out only six times in 90 at bats, sophomore Carter Spexarth ranks as the eighth toughest batter in the SEC to strike out, only doing so once every 15.0 at bats.
Junior Fa Leilua slugged her 21st home run of the season versus Missouri (April 28) and holds MSU's junior home run record. In just her first season at MSU, Leilua already ranks ninth in program history in career bombs.

WATCH LIVE
All three games of the series at Florida will be streamed in the SEC Network + via WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Sunday's series finale will also be featured as part of the SEC Network's "Bases Loaded" special.

Friday, May 3 – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida (SEC Network +)
Saturday, May 4 – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida (SEC Network +)
Sunday, May 5 – Mississippi State at No. 7/9 Florida (SEC Network +)

LIVE STATS
Florida will provide live stats for all three games of the weekend series via SideArm Sports. Live stats may be accessed by CLICKING HERE.

ADMISSION
General admission tickets to Katie Seashole Pressly Softball Stadium are available for purchase by CLICKING HERE.

WEATHER
Friday: 84 Degrees – Thunderstorm (90%)
Saturday: 90 Degrees – Partly Cloudy (20%)
Sunday: 84 Degrees – Thunderstorms (90%)

ON DECK
Mississippi State turns its sights to postseason play with the 2019 SEC Tournament hosted by Texas A&M in College Station. The Bulldogs will await their tournament seeding fate for their first match-up of the tournament, which will begin on Wednesday, May 8.

FOLLOW THE DAWGS
For more on Mississippi State softball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap".