Mississippi State
#20 Southern Miss
State Readies For Rematch With No. 20 Southern Miss
March 04, 2025 | Baseball
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State is set to welcome No. 20 Southern Miss to Dudy Noble Field for the first time since Chris Lemonis' initial season in 2019.
Inclement weather pushed the game back a day, so the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles will renew their instate rivalry on the diamond on Wednesday at 4 p.m. The game will be steamed on SEC Network+ and heard on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by Learfield.
Jacob Pruitt (0-0, 7.20 ERA) is set to start his second-straight midweek game on the mound for State. The junior right-hander struck out nine, walked none and only allowed one hit in a four-inning start against Troy last Tuesday.
USM counters with freshman righty Camden Sunstrom (0-0, 3.86 ERA), who will be making his first-career start following three appearances out of the bullpen.
MSU enters the contest at 7-4 and coming off a 1-2 showing at the Astros Foundation College Classic in Houston over the weekend. The Diamond Dawgs are hitting .302 on the year are averaging 7.6 runs per game and are a perfect 17 of 17 on stolen base attempts.
Reed Stallman has sparked Mississippi State's regulars with a .375 batting average while Ace Reese tops the team with five homers and 14 RBIs. Ross Highfill is the Bulldogs' top base thief with five steals this spring.
MSU's pitching staff sports a 3.07 earned run average and their 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings ranks third-best in the nation. Opponents are hitting just .175 against Diamond Dawg hurlers who have tallied 136 strikeouts (10th nationally) compared to just 38 walks.
Pico Kohn leads the team with 28 strikeouts and has only issued two walks. Chase Hungate, Dane Burns, Nate Williams, Evan Siary, Kevin Mannell and Gavin Black all have flawless ERA's with Hungate leading the team with a pair of saves.
Southern Miss is 9-3 on the year and are coming off a series win at then 25th-ranked TCU. The Golden Eagles sport a .278 team batting average and are scoring 6.8 runs per game on average.
Joey Urban paces the USM offense hitting .324 while Davis Gillespie leads the way with four homers and 14 RBIs. Nick Monistere and Jake Cook are tied for the team lead with two steals apiece.
The Golden Eagles have a 3.36 team ERA with 109 strikeouts and 46 walks over 107 innings of work. Kros Sivley leads the way with 18 strikeouts while Colby Allen and Landen Payne each have two saves. JB Middleton and Grayden Harris have yet to allow an earned run this spring.
State leads the all-time series 86-44 and have been on top in three of the last five meetings. Southern Miss won 3-0 over the Diamond Dawgs in Hattiesburg on Feb. 18.
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