Mississippi State
Missouri
State Wraps Up Regular Season With Mizzou
May 14, 2025 | Baseball
COLUMBIA, Mo., - Having won two-straight series, Mississippi State is seeking to finish out its regular season schedule strong.
The Diamond Dawgs swept Kentucky on Super Bulldog Weekend and took a series from archrival and then 24th-ranked Ole Miss last weekend.
MSU attempts to keep its momentum going closing by the regular season slate at Missouri. The three-game series begins on Thursday at 6 p.m. with Game 2 set for Friday at the same time. First pitch for the finale will be Saturday at 2 p.m. with all contests streaming on SEC Network+.
Junior left-hander Pico Kohn is set to start Thursday's affair on the mound for Mississippi State. Kohn ranks fifth in the SEC with 100 strikeouts and is tied seventh with 72 innings pitched. In 13 starts, he is 5-3 with a 4.38 earned run average with just 21 walks and opponents hitting only .225 against him.
The Tigers will counter with a southpaw of their own, sending freshman Brady Kehlenbrink to the bump for his ninth start. In 13 appearances, Kehlenbrink is 0-4 with a 9.68 ERA, 36 strikeouts and 19 walks across 30 2/3 innings.
The Bulldogs have slated the reigning National and SEC Pitcher of the Week Evan Siary (2-1, 4.06 ERA, 57 K, 13 BB), a junior right-hander, to start Friday's game and tabbed senior righty Karson Ligon (5-5, 6.23 ERA, 59 K, 24 BB) for Game 3 on Saturday.
Missouri has not announced its pitching plans for the final two games of the series. Â
State leads the all-time series against Mizzou 13-7 and took two of three from the Tigers last season in Starkville. The Diamond Dogs won the opening two contests 4-3 and 8-2 before being edged 4-3 in the finale.
The Bulldogs have won six of their last seven games since interim head coach Justin Parker took the helm on April 28 and are now 31-20 overall and 12-15 in conference play.
Mississippi State enters the weekend hitting .302 as a team with 82 home runs and scoring 7.6 runs per game. The Diamond Dawgs field at a .972 clip and have stolen 41 bases in 49 attempts on the year.
Junior left fielder Gehrig Frei tops MSU with a .355 batting average while sophomore third baseman Ace Reese leads the team with 68 hits, 15 doubles, one triple, 17 homers, 60 RBIs and a .701 slugging percentage. Reese is currently riding a team-best 18-game hitting streak with 21 multi-hit games, 19 multi-RBI games and four multi-homer games this season. Junior right fielder Ross Highfill is the Bulldogs' biggest base thief with 11 steals in 13 tries.
Senior first baseman Hunter Hines has hit 65 home runs in his career which ranks second among active Division I players. That total also ranks second in school history and Hines needs two more to tie Rafael Palmeiro (1983-85) for the most at Mississippi State. Hines has also driven in 207 runs, which matches Tommy Raffo (1987-90) for fourth all-time in the school's annals and needs six more to reach the No. 3 spot currently held by Bruce Castoria (1979-82).
State's pitching staff has a collective ERA of 4.42 with 560 strikeouts and 175 walks in 429 2/3 innings on the year. The Bulldogs rank fourth nationally averaging 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings and are sixth in the country with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.20. Opposing teams are batting just .228 against them.
Kohn is MSU's top strikeout artist while Cade O'Leary and Gavin Black both have flawless ERAs entering the final weekend of the regular season. Luke Dotson, Chase Hungate, Ryan McPherson and Stone Simmons have each recorded two saves this spring and are all tied for the team lead in that category.
Missouri (16-35, 3-24 SEC) is coming off a sweep at Texas A&M last weekend to earn its first three conference wins of the year. The Tigers claimed the series with 9-6 and 4-1 victories and finished off the sweep by a 10-1 tally.
The Tigers are batting .268 as a team with 50 homers and averaging 5.9 runs per game. Kerrick Jackson's club is last in the league with a fielding percentage of .965 and has stolen 65 bases in 87 attempts.
Jackson Lovich is Mizzou's leading hitter batting .357 with 11 long balls and 48 RBIs. Kaden Peer is their biggest base-stealing threat with a dozen steals in 14 tries.
The Tigers also rank last in the conference with a staff ERA of 8.82. They have fanned 422 and walked 270 across 417 1/3 innings. Their opposition is hitting .308 and have blasted 87 long balls.
Nic Smith sports Missouri's lowest ERA at 2.45 and is one of only two hurlers that has an ERA under five. Wil Libbert leads the Tigers with 52 strikeouts. Xavier Lovett, who spent two years at Mississippi State and was a member of the 2021 national championship team, has two of Mizzou's five saves on the year.
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.
