Dawgs Head to Nashville To Face No. 11 Vanderbilt

STARKVILLE – The Mississippi State Diamond Dawgs get the road as they travel to Nashville to take on No. 11 Vanderbilt in SEC action. The series starts on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Hawkins Field.

First pitch is set for Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The series will also be carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand.

Gameday Info
Friday, April 26 (6 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Khal Stephen, (6-2, 2.50 ERA), RHP, Jr.
VU: Bryce Cunningham, (5-2, 4.67 ERA), RHP, Jr.

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Saturday, April 27 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: TBD
VU: Carter Holton, (6-1, 3.95 ERA), LHP, Jr.

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Sunday, April 28 (1 p.m.)
Probable Starters
MSU: Jurrangelo Cijntje, (6-1, 3.50 ERA), BHP, So.
VU: TBD

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Quick Hitters

Bryce Chance has shown he is one of the toughest players to strike out in the nation this season. In his 39 games this season, Chance is the toughest player to strike out in the SEC and the second toughest player in the nation. Only one player, Camden Janik of Illinois, is more challenging to strike out. Chance is the only SEC player from the SEC in the top 20 for the toughest players to strike out. Besides being tricky to strike out, Chance is one of the best hitters during SEC play. Chance is hitting .373 (22-of-59), the ninth-best mark in conference games. For the course of the season, Chance is hitting .305 during the 2024 season, with 13 extra-base hits. He drove in the fifth most runs on the team with 27 and an on-base percentage of .380. Chance is on an 11-game hitting streak, the longest hitting streak of his career. His hitting streak started in game one of the Georgia series. During his hitting streak, he has four multi-hit games. Chance has hit safely in 15 of the last 16 games for the Dawgs.
Tyson Hardin played a vital role in the Dawgs doubleheader sweep of the Tigers of Auburn. In game one of the doubleheader, Hardin came in with the bases loaded and got the final out of the game to earn his first career save. He was available in game two and pitched the final two innings. He did not allow a hit and tallied five punchouts to earn his third win of the season. Since March 21, Hardin has been hard to hit when he appears out of the pen. Opponents are hitting .083 off him over his last five appearances. In 7 1/3 innings, he has only allowed two hits and has ten strikeouts.
On April 4, Dakota Jordan was name to the Golden Spikes Midseason Award Watch List. He is one of 45 players on the list and ninth Dawg in program history to be named to this list. His 55 RBIs are the 18th most in the NCAA. His 16 homers are the 26th most in the NCAA and eighth in the SEC. Jordan has the eighth-best batting average in the SEC hitting .379 this season.
The Diamond Dawgs Friday night ace, Khal Stephen, shined again this weekend against Auburn. He picked up his third win in a row after pitching seven innings in an 8-1 victory. He tied his career-high in strikeouts with 11. The prior week at Ole Miss, He pitched eight scoreless innings against the Rebels. This tied his career-high and was a season-best. The eight innings pitched were the first time a Diamond Dawg had pitched eight or more innings in a game since Will Bednar pitched eight innings against Alabama on May 21, 2021. Against Ole Miss, the Dawgs won 8-0, the second shutout of the year for the Diamond Dawgs. Since his outing at Texas A&M, Stephen has pitched 34 1/3 innings and has only allowed three earned runs (5 total), striking out 40 and picking up four wins. Over his last five starts, he has posted an ERA of 0.79. He has a 2.50 ERA, the second-best mark in the SEC for the season. He only trails Arkansas' Hagen Smith.
Last Tuesday, the Mississippi State Bulldogs recorded a shutout for the third time this season. The Dawgs shut out Alcorn State Tuesday night. They also shut out Ole Miss (4/12) and Mount St. Mary's (3/2). The Diamond Dawgs' last shutout prior to this season was June 30, 2021, when they defeated Vanderbilt to win the 2021 National Championship. During the 2021 season, the Diamond Dawgs tallied eight shutouts, four of which came from March 7 to 12. The Diamond Dawgs defeated Kent State, Grambling, Louisiana, and Eastern Michigan during that span.
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 47 home runs. The 47 home runs are the fifth most by an active player in the SEC. Tommy White (66), Jac Caglianone (65), Braden Montgomery (57) and Charlie Condon (51) are the only active players ahead of Hines. The 47 home runs are the 13th most by an active player in Division 1 baseball. The 47 home runs are tied for the sixth most in a career at Mississippi State. He is four homers away from moving into the top five at MSU. Besides hitting for power, Hines has driven in 148 runs and is 36 RBIs away from joining the career RBI mark at MSU.

The Diamond Dawg pitching staff has tallied the fourth-most punchouts in the SEC with 423. They are one strikeout in front of Vanderbilt for the fourth spot. Jurrangelo Cijntje and Khal Stephen are both in the top ten for strikeouts this season in the SEC. Cijntje leads the Dawgs and is sixth in the SEC with 69 strikeouts, while Stephen follows with 67 punchouts, the ninth-most in the SEC.
The Diamond Dawgs lead the SEC in runners picked off. Mississippi State has picked off 12 runners this season. The next closest team has picked off eight.
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 March 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 69 Diamond Dawgs reaching the highest level of the sport, but it is also great at keeping student-athletes on campus.

Scouting the Opponent – Vanderbilt

No. 11 ranked Vanderbilt comes into the weekend with a 30-11 record.
Vanderbilt is third in the SEC East with a 10-8 SEC record.
Matthew Polk leads the Commodore's offense with a .339 batting average. Polk has 39 hits, 17 RBIs, ten doubles and five home runs on the season.
The Commodore's team is hitting is .297 as a team, the fifth best mark in the SEC.
The Vanderbilt pitching staff is led by Carter Holton. Holton has appeared in 10 games, punching out 81 and walking 17 batters in 54.2 innings of work. Holton holds a 3.95 ERA heading into the weekend.
As a staff, Vanderbilt has an ERA of 4.31, the sixth best mark in the SEC. In 351 innings, the Commodores have 422 strikeouts. The 422 strikeouts are the fifth most in the SEC.

Series History

Mississippi State leads the all-time series 74-57-2. The Diamond Dawgs last beat Vanderbilt in 2021 to win the National Championship.
State is 30-25 against the Commodores when playing at Hawkins Field.

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Mississippi State University Athletics

Dawgs Head to Nashville To Face No. 11 Vanderbilt

Players Mentioned

Bryce Chance

Jurrangelo Cijntje

Tyson Hardin

Hunter Hines

Dakota Jordan

Khal Stephen

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