Diamond Dawg Gameday: at Alabama

STARKVILLE – One last regular season road trip takes the No. 3 Mississippi State baseball program to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to face off with Alabama in a three-game series starting on Thursday (May 20) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

Mississippi State (37-13, 17-10 SEC) enters looking to lock up a top four seed at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama next week, while Alabama (29-19, 12-14 SEC) is in the midst of an 11-game SEC stretch and currently sits fourth in the SEC West and No. 7 in SEC Tournament seeding.

The Diamond Dawgs enter the final weekend with a lot up in the air in terms of seeding for the SEC Tournament. Currently tied for the No. 4 seed – and a bye into the double-elimination portion of the bracket – with Florida, State can finish as high as tied for first in the conference and as low as seventh in tournament seeding.

Tanner Allen continues to lead of the Diamond Dawg offense with an SEC-leading .389 batting average and 74 hits. He is the only Power 5 hitter with 70 hits, 50 runs scored and 45 RBIs this season and ranks among the top 10 in the SEC in seven of the major offensive categories. He has reached base safely in 47 of 49 games this season, including 34 games being on base multiple times.

Reaching base has been a theme for Rowdey Jordan, as the junior enters the weekend with a 35-game reached base streak, which is the third-longest streak in the SEC this season. Overall, Jordan is hitting .316 with a team-best 54 runs scored. He has 27 walks and 15 hit-by-pitch to just 28 strikeouts in 50 starts.

Alabama grabbed one win at LSU last weekend and is 4-4 over its last eight SEC contests, with its last two midweek games cancelled. Zane Denton leads the offense with a .328 batting average and a .409 on-base percentage, while the duo of Sam Praylor (13 home runs) and Own Diodati (11 home runs) have each reached double-digit home runs in 2021, while Denton and Peyton Wilson have each hit nine. Their 60 home runs as a team rank No. 24 nationally.

Gameday Info

Thursday, May 20 (6 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Christian MacLeod, RHP, Fr. (3Y)
UA: Tyler Ras, R HP, Jr.

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Friday, May 21 (6 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Will Bednar, RHP, Fr. (2Y)
UA: Dylan Smith, RHP, Jr.

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Saturday, May 22 (1 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: TBA
UA: TBA

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Quick Hitters

Mississippi State will spend its 13th straight week ranked among the top five by at least one major poll, sitting as high as No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball. FULL POLLS ON PAGE 6
With a number of scenarios in play, Mississippi State can finish as high as co-champion in the SEC and as low as No. 7 in the final SEC standings.
On the mound, Mississippi State continues to lead the NCAA in strikeouts and is the only Division I program with at least 600 punchouts. Currently, State owns 631 strikeouts on the year, which is No. 3 in program history.
Tanner Allen leads all conference hitters with a .389 batting average, is tied for No. 1 in hits (74), No. 5 in runs scored (53) and No. 8 in RBIs (48). He is the only Power 5 hitter with 45 RBIs, 50 runs scored and 70 hits.
In conference only games, Allen leads the conference in hits (46), batting average (.418), slugging percentage (.727) and total bases (80). He is the only student-athlete to rank among the top five in average, slugging and on-base percentage in SEC only games. In conference games, Allen ranks among the top 10 in runs scored (No. 7; 26) and RBIs (29).
Rowdey Jordan moved his reached base streak to 35 games with a base hit against Jacksonville State, a streak that sits No. 5 on the single-season charts since 2002. MORE ON PAGE 9
In SEC play this season, second-year freshman Landon Sims has been virtually untouchable. The right-hander has appeared in 10 games - nine of which MSU has won - and allowed just one run in 22 1/3 innings of work (0.40 ERA). He is 2-0 with six saves and is limiting opponents to a .097 batting average with a 0.63 WHIP. Of his 67 outs, 37 of them have come via strikeout (55%) and his K/9 is 14.91.
The Ferriss Trophy, awarded to the top collegiate baseball student-athlete in Mississippi, has tabbed Tanner Allen and Landon Sims as finalists for the award. It is the second straight awards cycle that Mississippi State has produced two finalists for the trophy named after Mississippi State's own David "Boo" Ferriss.
Head coach Chris Lemonis notched his 100th win at Mississippi State (130 games coached) against Missouri on Thursday (May 13) and is the fastest head coach in program history to reach the 100-win mark. Pat McMahon reached the 100-win mark in his 146th career game as head coach, while Ron Polk took 150 games to reach the 100-win mark.
Mississippi State finished the season 11-0 in midweek contests and own a 29-1 mark in midweek contests under Lemonis. The Diamond Dawgs went 15-0 in the midweek during the 2019 season and 3-1 in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short.

Scouting the Opponent

Alabama enters the final weekend of the regular season with a 29-19 overall record and 12-14 mark in SEC play. The Crimson Tide is in the midst of 11-straight SEC games to end the season, with a 4-4 mark over the first eight.
The Alabama offense averages 6.3 runs per game on 9.4 hits, while the pitching staff has allowed 4.9 runs per game with a 4.62 ERA.
Zane Denton leads the offense with a .328 batting average and a .409 on-base percentage. He ranks second on the team with 35 runs scored and third with 36 RBIs.
Sam Praytor is also hitting over .300, entering with a .302 clip and a team-best 44 RBIs and 13 home runs.
Seven Alabama pitchers have started at least three games, with Dylan Smith (13 starts) and Tyler Ras (12 starts) being staples in the Crimson Tide weekend rotation.
The pitching staff has walked just 153 batters in 425 innings of work, which is the third fewest in the SEC.

Series Notes

Mississippi State and Alabama will meet for the 219th time on Thursday night in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide lead the series over the Bulldogs, 214-200-4.
The 418 games played between Mississippi State and Alabama mark the second most contested series in MSU history (472 games; Ole Miss).
Since 1990, the two programs have met seven times on Thursday night. Mississippi State has won four of those contests, including the last three (2014, 2016, 2017).
Over the first 100 meetings in the series, Alabama held a 62-34-4 advantage, while Mississippi State has a Since 54-46 edge over the last 100 games, including a 19-6 edge in the last 25 meetings (2012-present).
In all, 28 games in the series have gone into extra innings.

Mississippi State University Athletics

Diamond Dawg Gameday: at Alabama

Players Mentioned

Tanner Allen

Will Bednar

Rowdey Jordan

Christian MacLeod

Landon Sims

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