Previewing Mississippi State Baseball’s Critical Weekend Against No. 1 Florida

STARKVILLE, Miss. – There’s a lot riding on Mississippi State baseball’s postseason fate this weekend, as the Diamond Dawgs are scheduled for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against No. 1 Florida at Dudy Noble Field for the final weekend of the regular season.

The three-game SEC series between the Diamond Dawgs (28-24, 12-15 SEC) and Gators (41-12, 20-7 SEC) will begin today at 6:30 p.m. CT. The series will resume Friday at 6 p.m. CT and conclude Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT. The series opener will air today on SEC Network+. ESPNU will televise the second and third games of the series.

MSU is coming off of a series loss to No. 17 Kentucky. The Dawgs won the series finale 18-8 and had an impressive afternoon hitting the ball, as they had 20 hits in the ball game. The Diamond Dawgs have gone 9-5 over their last 14 games.

Florida is coming off of a two games to one SEC series win over Georgia.

Why is this game so important? If the Dawgs win one game in the three-game series , they will qualify as one of the conference’s top-12 teams and would be assured a spot in next week’s SEC Tournament.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Thursday: MSU LHP Konnor Pilkington (2-6, 4.31 ERA) vs. UF RHP Tommy Mace (3-0, 5.49 ERA)

Friday: MSU LHP Ethan Small (5-3, 2.75 ERA) vs. UF RHP Brady Singer (10-1, 2.25 ERA)

Saturday: MSU TBA vs. UF RHP Jackson Kowar (9-2, 2.56 ERA)