Mississippi State vs McNeese State Baseball Preview

The Mississippi State Bulldogs’ last game was cancelled in the fourth inning due to fog as MSU was up 4-0 on UT Rio Grande Valley. Yesterday, the Bulldogs took a stop in Houston, Texas to practice at Houston Baptist University’s field.

Now, the Bulldogs are hiking over to Lake Charles, Louisiana to play against McNeese State. As bad as MSU’s early season struggles have been on the field, the Cowboys’ performance has been even worse. McNeese State is currently 1-6 on the year with their lone win coming in the form of a 1-0 win over Texas State in San Marcos, Texas on Sunday.

Prior to their series in San Marcos, the Cowboys played Louisiana Tech in Ruston and lost to those Bulldogs 5-1. Before that, McNeese State hosted Wichita State in Lake Charles, a series that ended in a sweep for the Shockers.

As today’s matchup comes closer, Mississippi State will be taking on a team that is struggling in just about every regard. McNeese State is hitting poorly and pitching even worse.

At the plate, the Cowboys are hitting .224 and slugging .347. McNeese State’s Shane Selman and Jacob Stracner are both successful hitters as they are batting .375 and .321 respectively. Selman also has 4 home runs on the early season. However, beyond the duo of Selman and Stracner, there has been very little success at the plate. The Cowboys have struck out a total of 64 times on the season.

On the mound, Cayne Ueckert has been successful for McNeese State, striking out 10 in 12.0 innings with a 2.25 ERA. The entirety of McNeese State’s pitching staff has struggled though, as the staff’s ERA is 6.45 with 60 total strikeouts and 41 walks.

Statistically, Mississippi State is better than the Cowboys in just about every metric. With a batting average of .276 and an ERA of 4.58, Mississippi State stacks up better than their opponents tonight. However, MSU has been on the road since last week and is likely still growing accustomed to having Gary Henderson as its head coach. Despite being a better team built with more talented players, the Bulldogs will need to play disciplined, focused baseball to make sure that they win tonight before a big weekend in Minute Maid Park.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs play McNeese State tonight at 6 p.m. Central Time.