After an 11-4 start to the season at home and riding a seven game win streak, the Mississippi State Bulldogs prepare to hit the road for the first time this season in a trip out west to the Hi Corbett Classic in Tuscon, Arizona. The round-robin tournament is set to feature 6-7 Arizona from the Pac-12 and 7-1 UC Santa Barbara from the Big West conference, in addition to the Bulldogs. Each team will play the other two teams twice, starting tonight with matchups for MSU against both teams.
The Bulldogs come into this weekend's classic as one of the hottest teams in the country, and they will look to keep that streak going. It won't be easy to do, however, as both the Gauchos and Wildcats are perfectly capable of upending MSU, but State does come in as the best team overall in this early season non-conference tournament. To get you ready for the big weekend, here's a look at this weekend's schedule, anticipated pitching matchups, leading players for each team, as well as the full schedule of games from around college baseball this weekend. Here's to hoping for warmer weather this weekend, and for the MSU warm streak to continue as well.
all times and pitching matchups courtesy of HailState.com
Weekend Schedule (all times Central)
Friday
- 3:00 p.m. - UC Santa Barbara vs. Mississippi State
- 8:00 p.m. - Mississippi State vs. Arizona
Saturday
- 3:00 p.m. - Mississippi State vs. UC Santa Barbara
- 8:00 p.m. - UC Santa Barbara vs. Arizona
Sunday
- 2:00 p.m. - Arizona vs. UC Santa Barbara
- 7:00 p.m. - Arizona vs. Mississippi State
NOTE: Though this weekend's games will not be available on HailStateTV, they will be available, FOR FREE, courtesy the University of Arizona and the Pac-12 conference. We will have that video link available to view right here for you just before the first game this weekend, or you can also find the feed here.
Pitching Matchups (subject to change)
Friday
- UCSB vs. MSU - RHP Ben Bracewell (2-0, 0.59 ERA) vs. LHP Justin Jacome (1-0, 1.38 ERA)
- MSU vs. UA - Jr. RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-1, 5.00 ERA) vs. RHP James Farris (2-1, 2.08 ERA)
Saturday
- MSU vs. UCSB - Jr. RHP Trevor Fitts (2-0, 1.96 ERA) vs. RHP Shane Bieber (1-0, 1.50 ERA)
Sunday
- Arizona vs. MSU - TBA vs. TBA (likely Dakota Hudson or Austin Sexton)
Leading Hitters
Arizona
- Scott Kingery, | .426 avg, 20 hits, 4 2B, 7 RBIs, .596 slg
- Zach Gibbons, | .420 avg, 21 hits, 8 RBIs, .500 OBP
UC Santa Barbara
- Joey Epperson, 3B/OF/1B | .500 avg, 16 hits, 2 HR, 8 RBIs, .781 slg
- Peter Maris, INF | .333 avg, 11 hits, 1 HR, 10 RBIs, .425 OBP
Mississippi State
- Brett Pirtle, 2B | .333 avg, 20 hits, 1 3B, 9 RBIs, 2 SB
- Wes Rea, 1B | .313 avg, .521 slg, 15 hits, 3 HRs, 19 RBIs
Links
Baseball America Weekend Preview - 3/7 to 3/9
Get to know the Arizona Wildcats (via FWtCT)
Hi Corbett Classic Game Notes (via HailState.com)
Arizona Baseball Homepage
UC Santa Barbara Baseball Homepage
Top 25 Weekend Matchups
- (1) Virginia at Duke
- Maryland at (2) Florida State
- Brown at (3) South Carolina
- (4) Cal State Fullerton at Baylor
- Northern Illinois at (5) Oregon State
- Notre Dame at (6) N.C. State
- Texas Southern at (7) Louisiana-Lafayette
- Winthrop at (8) Vanderbilt
- Purdue at (9) Louisiana State
- Hawaii at (10) Texas
- (11) Cal Poly at Seattle
- Ohio State at (14) Oregon
- Virginia Tech at (15) Clemson
- Boston College at (16) Miami
- (17) Indiana at Jacksonville
- Old Dominion at (18) Rice
- Miami (Ohio) at (19) Louisville
- Cal State Northridge at (20) Sam Houston State
- Pittsburgh at (21) North Carolina
- Michigan State at (22) Texas Christian
- Ball State at (23) Kentucky
- (24) Fresno State at Air Force
- Arkansas-Little Rock at (25) Mississippi
Top 25 Weekend Tournaments
- Hi Corbett Classic, Tucson
(12) Mississippi State, Arizona, UC Santa Barbara
- Dodgertown Classic, Los Angeles (which MSU will play in in 2016)
(13) UCLA, Houston, Pepperdine, Southern California
SEC Weekend Matchups
- Ball State at (23) Kentucky
- Connecticut at Florida
- Southern Miss at Missouri
- Buffalo, North Florida, Western Carolina at Georgia (Georgia Bulldog Invitational)
- Winthrop at (8) Vanderbilt
- Miss. Valley St at Alabama
- Brown at (3) South Carolina
- Mercer at Auburn
- Arkansas at Tulane
- Arkansas-Little Rock at (25) Ole Miss
- Purdue at (9) LSU
- Louisiana Tech at Texas A&M
- Tennessee at Arizona State
- (12) Mississippi State, UC Santa Barbara at Arizona (Hi Corbett Classic)