Who: #9 South Carolina 24-2 (6-0) at Mississippi State 15-11 (0-6). Dudy Noble Field, Starkville, MS.
Time/TV: 7:00 pm Thursday on SEC Network, 7:00 pm on Friday streaming on SEC Network+, and 3:00 on Saturday also being streamed on SEC Network+. For the first time in the last three weekends, it does not appear that the weather will be a factor in this series. Mike Ferrin and Todd Walker will be on the call for Thursday Night's game. (Hopefully, they won't be remote).
Projected Starting Pitchers: Thursday, Eli Jones (So. RHP) 4-0, 1.77 ERA, 20.1 IP, 4 BB, 24Ks, .182 OBA. v. Jurrangelo Cijntje (Fr. BHP) 3-1, 4.37 ERA, 22.2 IP, 15 BB, 30Ks .164 OBA. Friday, Noah Hall (Sr. RHP) 5-0, 2.35 ERA, 38.1 IP, 8 BB, 41K, .204 OBA. v. TBA. Saturday, Jack Mahoney (Jr. RHP) 3-0, 2.87 ERA, 31.1 IP, 8 BB, 35Ks .250 OBA v. Nate Dohm (So. RHP) 3-3, 3.28 ERA, 24.2 IP, 6 BB, 26Ks, .200 OBA.
BHP is not a typo for Cijntje, the Dutch-born pitcher is proficient with both arms and will switch pitching arms depending on the batter. Thursday night's game will be the most intriguing of the weekend for Cijntje alone.
Line: Thursday night only South Carolina -175. Miss St +140
History: 40-37 Carolina leads. State leads all-time in Starkville 20-16. The Bulldogs have dominated since Ray Tanner's departure from the Gamecock dugout after the 2012 season. From 2013 on, the Bulldogs hold a 12-5 advantage. The Gamecocks have lost their last three series in Starkville. South Carolina has also never swept State on their home field.
Last Meeting: The last meeting came about 7 weeks before the Bulldogs would capture their first National Title in 2021. Mississippi State won the first two games in Columbia before Carolina won the series finale 4-3, in 11 innings on a David Mendham walk-off double. Carolina won the last game contested in Starkville as well in 2019 behind a strong start from Brent Kerry.
Scouting the Bulldogs
Let's start by giving props to the Bulldogs on creating one of, if not the best, atmospheres in college baseball at Dudy Noble Field. While I doubt that this series is going to set any attendance records due to the Bulldogs' struggles, this should be the largest road crowd the Gamecocks see this season. (Maybe Arkansas). Every college baseball fan should try to catch a game at Dudy Noble.
It seems like a lifetime ago that the Bulldogs won their school's first-ever championship. Since 2021, they've gone 41-41 overall and 9-27 in the SEC. On top of the record, they've also watched Ole Miss win their first baseball National Championship in 2022. Citadel graduate, and Mississippi State Head Coach, Chris Lemonis' squad is not having the bounce-back year they had hoped for. One of the glaring reasons why is that the Bulldogs are the worst fielding team in the SEC, averaging almost 1.5 errors a game. Putting the ball in play will be key for Carolina this weekend.
The Bulldogs aren't slouches at the plate. They hit .298 as a team and have five regulars batting over .300. Outfielder Bryce Chance is the best contact hitter. The sophomore outfielder is hitting .353, but only has 6 extra-base hits and two home runs. Hunter Hines is State's biggest deep ball threat with 10 round-trippers on the season. Luke Hancock and Colton Ledbetter are two experienced players that are having solid seasons at the dish, hitting .347/1.060/.533 and .341/1.082/.582 respectively.
Mississippi State has struggled on the mound. They have a team ERA of 6.51. In their six SEC contests, they've been tagged for 90 runs; that's 15 a game. Last weekend, Vanderbilt scored 55 runs in a series sweep of the Bulldogs. They've given up more than 10 runs in five of six SEC games. The Bulldogs were swept in Lexington by Kentucky and at home by Vandy. All those runs scored against equated to a conference play only ERA of 14.98.
The Bulldogs have an RPI of 58. The Bulldogs have several players with Palmetto State ties including freshman infielder David Mershon. Mershon is from Greenville and played at Eastside High School. Stone Simmons pitched at Furman before the Paladins shut down their program; he's now a Junior at MSU. Sophomore pitcher Nate Williams pitched for Florence-Darling Tech before transferring into Starkville.
Gamecock News and Notes
“They’re the national champions from two years ago. We have nothing but respect for that program, the coaching staff, and the players they have in that program,” Mark Kingston said. “We’re going to treat it like every SEC weekend. We’re going to have to play really well on the road to have success.” Translation: we need to, and should win this series.
This is a series that South Carolina needs to win. We've been harping on the importance of banking wins in the first half of the season, which Carolina has done with 24 of them. The Gamecocks arguably have the most difficult final 27-game stretch of the season with series against LSU, Vanderbilt, Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee all remaining. Throw a neutral site midweek game with North Carolina, and a winning record in the final 27 would have Carolina hosting in the NCAA Tournament and likely in the national seed discussion.
The most watched storyline from South Carolina's perspective this weekend is the usage of Will Sanders. He is not starting this weekend, but he could throw out of the bullpen. Bringing Sanders late in the game and having him shut the door of the Bulldogs could him a boost of confidence heading into LSU. If Eli Jones shines in his weekend rotation debut, Sanders could be an option for starting the North Carolina game on Tuesday and coming out of the bullpen against LSU.
