'Dogs Head To Arkansas For Critical Series
State, Lady 'Backs Looking To Secure SEC Tournament Berth STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State softball team (31-24, 10-13 SEC) will close out the road portion of its 2002 regular season schedule this weekend as the Bulldogs head to Fayetteville, Ark., for a pivotal three-game series with the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (34-22-1, 10-14). The two teams will open up their series in a 12 p.m. Saturday doubleheader at 'Lady Back Yard and will close out the set on Sunday at noon. All three games of the series can be seen via the following live stats link or at LadyBacks.com, the official website of Lady Razorback athletics. With only 1/2 game separating both squads in the conference standings, and with two spots separating the two in the latest NCAA Central Region rankings, this series in Fayetteville becomes critical. A pair of losses this weekend could be devastating to either side. An analysis of the two teams proves to be eerily contrasting. Arkansas' pitching staff will bring a 1.33 staff ERA into the contest to try and offset a hot-hitting Mississippi State ballclub that has combined to hit .318 (50-for-157) over its last six outings. The Bulldogs will bring a .276 team clip into Fayetteville. However, quite possibly the weekend's biggest matchup will be the Lady Razorback batters against the Mississippi State pitching staff. Arkansas will bring the conference's ninth-best team batting average (.255) into the series to go head-to-head with the SEC's eighth-best pitching ballclub in the Maroon and White (2.40 team ERA). The Arkansas bats have been equally as hot as of late though, turning in a .333 (58-for-174) clip in its last six games. No surprise, the series between the two squads has been anything but a yawner. Despite MSU's 14-7 lead, including a 6-2 advantage in Fayetteville, the clubs have jousted in nine games decided by two runs or less, with an average score being 3 to 2 in Mississippi State's favor. Four games of the 21-game series have gone into extra innings. In terms of team leaders, both will bring their usual suspects into the set. With a 2-for-2 hitting performance against Jacksonville State on Wednesday, Kellie Wilkerson peeked back above the .400 plateau and will bring a .401 (15-for-152) average into the weekend to support nine home runs and 23 RBIs. But, by far, the hottest hitter on this Mississippi State ballclub is sophomore Krystal Tillman who has recorded a .475 (28-for-59) clip since March 24, raising her season average (.324) by nearly 100 points in the process. Tillman has tallied 17 RBIs and scored 21 runs on eight extra-base hits this season. Arkansas will ride a pair of pitchers into the weekend, headlined by sophomore Heather Schlichtman (17-7, 1.37 ERA) who has struck out 165 batters in 178 and two-thirds innings of work this season. Senior cohort Rachel Talley (12-8, 1.39) has lived up to her billing as well, striking out 137 batters in just more than 131 innings of work.