Diamond Dogs Open Super Regional Play At Top-Ranked Florida
Freshman right-hander Evan Mitchell (6-1, 3.47 ERA) is set to draw his seventh start in Friday's opener. Pitching in the shadows of his Marietta, Ga., home last weekend in the Atlanta Regional, Mitchell picked up his sixth win and earned all-tournament team honors with a career-longest eight-inning mound stint in an 8-3 win against Southern Miss.
Florida has tabbed sophomore righty Hudson Randall (9-3, 2.38 ERA) for game-opening mound duty.
The series continues Saturday at Florida's 5,500-seat McKethan Stadium at 11:05 a.m., with Sunday's "if necessary" game to be played at 12:05 p.m. (CDT). All games in the Gainesville Super Regional will be televised nationally with Dave Neal and Frank Thomas describing the action. Friday's opener will be televised on ESPN2 and the remaining game or games on ESPN.
The radio broadcast of the games can be heard on the 18-station MSU Baseball Radio Network and free of charge on the internet at www.MStateAthletics.com/M2M.
Friday's series-opener marks the fifth meeting this season with the Gators. State topped Florida 7-5 April 8 in the opening game of a three-game weekend series at Dudy Noble Field. UF evened the series with an 18-0 Saturday win and worked out of a bases-loaded ninth-inning jam for a series-clinching 3-1 Sunday win. The teams met again in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, with Florida rallying late for a 7-5 win.
The winners of the eight NCAA super regionals advance to the 65th annual College World Series June 18-28/29 at TD Ameritrade Park.