State Takes On Red-Hot Georgia Bulldogs
'Dogs 21st-Ranked Red And Black To Be Highlighted On SEC-TV ATHENS, Ga. -- The Mississippi State softball team (19-14, 2-4), unranked for the second-straight week, will face its fourth top 25 team in 14 days as the Bulldogs travel to Athens, Ga., to take on the surging Georgia Bulldogs (34-3, 6-3) at the UGA Women's Athletic Complex. The two teams will open up their series with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader at 1 p.m. ET and will close out the series on Sunday in a 2 p.m. contest. The series finale is set to be regionally televised by SEC-TV (Fox Sports Net South), while all three games can be followed via a live webcast on http://www.GeorgiaDogs.com. The Maroon and White, who are coming off perhaps their most satisfying upset victory in school history at 4th-ranked LSU on Tuesday night, will face a Red and Black squad much different than they have ever seen before. Georgia, which began the season with a school-record 24-game winning streak, will enter the weekend series on a nine-game winning streak. State will enter the weekend with an eight-game winning streak against Georgia and lead the overall series, 10-1. "Georgia is a really aggressive and confident team," said Mississippi State head coach Kathy Arendsen. "We've got to be ready to play against a strong defense and take advantage of every offensive opportunity given to us, especially early in the game." Despite dropping two games of a three-game set to Alabama two weeks ago - the first of which dropped Georgia to 24-1 on the campaign -- the SEC East leader has rebounded to win nine of its last 10, including a series sweep at Auburn last weekend. The Red and Black attack currently boasts the conference's best hitting clip (.309) and fielding average (.973), while sharing the SEC lead with a 1.21 staff ERA. Georgia carries six batters hitting above the .300 plateau and sports the league's best on base percentage (.401). Georgia has also swiped 115 bases in 37 team games (3.1/game), including six steals of home plate. However, the Bulldogswill bring a confident team into Athens after collecting 23 hits against LSU in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and Wednesday. After dropping the opening game of the series to the Tigers, State unraveled LSU in the later innings of game two and snapped a 17-game losing streak to the Purple and Gold with an 8-7 victory in extra frames. The win against LSU marked State's fourth against a top 10 opponent this season and brought MSU's overall record against the top 25 to 8-7. But, in order for the Maroon and White to be successful this weekend, they must contend with a very disciplined Georgia team led by a strict and fundamental coach in former Southern Miss skipper Lu Harris. Harris has turned in a 77-29 clip as head coach of Georgia following an impressive tenure at Southern Miss that included two Women's College World Series appearances. Arendsen and Harris have met seven times on the softball diamond, with Arendsen holding a slight 4-3 edge. "Lu has done a very good job of rebuilding the Georgia program," Arendsen said. "They are off to a great start and will be a very formidable opponent for us. We've been getting a lot of hits, but we are leaving a lot of people on base. We need to take advantage of a lot more offensive opportunities. We'll need to play our best game in order to be successful this weekend." Game one of the series will likely feature both Bulldog aces, with Georgia sending Michelle Green (13-1, 1.10 ERA) to the circle against Mississippi State ace Kasey Whitehead (10-8, 2.62). The second half of Saturday's twinbill will probably feature MSU's Melissa Massey (3-6, 1.80) against Lacey Gardner (14-2, 1.31). Sunday's series finale will likely see another Whitehead/Green matchup.