Diamond Dogs Test UM In SEC Tourney Opener
The 19th-ranked Bulldogs (33-18, 15-13 SEC) meet instate rival Mississippi (35-21, 16-14 SEC) in a scheduled 8 p.m. contest, the last of four games on the opening day of the double-elimination, eight-team tournament.
MSU will open with junior lefty Justin Pigott (5-5, 4.69) on the mound opposite UM junior right-hander Will Kline (5-2, 3.92).
The two teams split their 2007 regular season meetings. State claimed a14-9 win in Pearl, Miss., at the inaugural Governor's Cup game before UM took two of three games in the three-game SEC weekend series in Oxford, 17-7, 5-1 and 1-4.
Wednesday's game will be televised regionally by Comcast Sports Southeast. The radio broadcast of the game can be heard on the statewide Mississippi State University Baseball Network.
MSU will be looking to end a late-season slump that has seen the Bulldogs drop six of their last eight games. The Bulldogs, who rank third in the SEC with a .320 team batting average, have scored five runs or less in six of their last eight games.
The Bulldogs' last meeting with the Rebels was a record-setting 4-1 MSU win that spanned 17 innings and last two minutes shy of five hours, both Mississippi State records. MSU owns a 7-1 SEC Tournament mark against UM, including a 4-1 win in the championship game of the 2005 SEC Tournament. Five members of MSU's 2007 SEC Tournament squad competed in that title-clinching win.
The winner of Wednesday's game advances to an 8 p.m. Thursday matchup against the winner of Wednesday's 5 p.m. contest between top-ranked SEC champion Vanderbilt and No. 8 seed Tennessee. The losers of the two games meet at 1 p.m. Thursday.