Dawgs Back Home to Host Central Arkansas

STARKVILLE- The Mississippi State Bulldogs return to Dudy Noble Field for a midweek matchup against Central Arkansas. Tuesday first pitch is slated for 11 a.m.

Due to the threat of inclement weather, Mississippi State baseball's midweek contest versus Central Arkansas has been moved up to an 11 a.m. first pitch on Tuesday, April 2 at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville.

The midweek contest will be aired on SECN+ and will also be carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand.

Gameday Info
Tuesday, Apr. 2 (11 a.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Nolan Stevens, (2-2), LHP, Fr.
UCA: Payton Windham, (0-2), LHP, Jr.

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Live Stats: hailst.at/StatBroadcast

Quick Hitters

For the third straight week, the Diamond Dawgs find themselves in the national rankings. The Diamond Dawgs came in at No. 23 by D1 Baseball, No. 19 by Baseball America.
Junior infielder/outfielder Hunter Hines enters the 2024 season as a Third Team Preseason All-American by Perfect Game. For his career, Hines has hit 45 home runs. The 45 home runs are the fourth most by an active player in the SEC. Tommy White (60), Jac Caglianone (53), and Braden Montgomery (51) are the only active players ahead of Hines. The 45 home runs are the sixth most by an active player in Division 1 baseball. The 45 home runs are tied for eighth most in a career at Mississippi State. He is six homers away from moving into the top five at MSU. Besides hitting for power, Hines has driven in 142 runs and is 43 RBIs away from joining the career RBI mark at MSU.
Once SEC play started in mid-March, Connor Hujsak' s bat started to heat up. Over the first nine SEC games of the season, Hujsak is hitting a team best .405 in conference games. He has 15 hits with six going for extra bases, including a two-home run game against Florida on March 30. He has an on-base percentage of .463 over this span. Over the entire season, Hujsak is hitting .347, the second best on the team. He has 15 extra base hits, including nine doubles, four homers and two triples.
The Diamond Dawgs' power is starting to come out this season. This season, MSU has hit 33 home runs and is led in bombs by Dakota Jordan with 14. They have had a homer in 14 of the last 17 games. Against Memphis and Samford, the Diamond Dawgs hit three bombs. MSU hit a season high five home runs in the second game against No. 6 Florida over the weekend. In the contest, the Dawgs had Dakota Jordan and Connor Hujsak hit two bombs apiece.
The Dude Effect is alive and well. Reserved seating has once again sold out for the season. Mississippi State has sold out reserved seating since 1987.
On Mar. 22 Mississippi State's 5-1 victory over Texas A&M marked their 1,000^th career SEC victory. Only four schools have accomplished this feat. MSU joined Florida, LSU, and Alabama to reach 1,000 wins in SEC games.
Mississippi State is great at turning out major league talent, with 68 Diamond Dawgs reaching the highest level of the sport, but it is also great at keeping student-athletes on campus.

Scouting the Opponent – Central Arkansas

>Central Arkansas heads to Dudy Noble Field with a 12-15 record and a 4-5 Atlantic Sun Conference record.
The Bears are 4-5 in away games this season.
Central Arkansas has two players with a batting average over .300. Kade Seldomridge leads the Bears with a .356 batting average. Right behind Seldomridge is Drew Sturgeon with a .343 batting average, Sturgeon leads the team with 34 hits on the season.
The pitching staff for UCA comes in with a 5.87 ERA and opponents are hitting .276 off them. They have tallied 238 strikeouts on the season.
Hunter Alexander, Mason Griffin, and Gavin Alveti have all appeared in 12 games out of the pen for the Bears this season.

Series Notes

Central Arkansas leads the series 4-3 all time.
Mississippi State last met Central Arkansas in 2013. The Diamond Dawgs defeated the Bears 6-1.
Six of the seven matchups between these two programs came during the 2013 season. The Dawgs and Bears played a three-game series in March before MSU hosted UCA in the Starkville Regional that season.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching 'HailStateBB' on X, Facebook and Instagram.

Dawgs Back Home to Host Central Arkansas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hunter Hines

Connor Hujsak

Dakota Jordan

Nolan Stevens

Mississippi State University Athletics

Dawgs Back Home to Host Central Arkansas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hunter Hines

Connor Hujsak

Dakota Jordan

Nolan Stevens

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