No. 4 Mississippi State baseball heads to Nashville for showdown with No. 2 Vanderbilt

Friday’s first pitch is set for 7 p.m.

By Collin Wilmes@CollinWilmes Apr 23, 2021, 6:09pm EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 4 Mississippi State baseball team is set to take on No. 2 Vanderbilt in a three-game series at Hawkins Field.

The series will begin Friday at 7 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network. The series continues Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU before concluding Sunday at 1 p.m. on SEC Network+.

The Bulldogs (28-8, 10-5 SEC) enter the series with 11 wins over its last 12 games and three straight Southeastern Conferences series wins.

Seniors Tanner Allen and Rowdey Jordan lead the MSU offense with batting averages of .344 and .311, respectively. Allen has recorded 44 hits, 37 RBIs and 38 runs, while Jordan has recorded 42 hits, 40 runs and 24 RBIs. Sophomore Kamren James leads the team with 39 RBIs on a .301 batting average.

The MSU pitching staff has struck out 10-plus batters in a school-record 16 straight games and leads the nation with 464 strikeouts in 323 innings.

The Commodores (29-6, 11-4 SEC) are coming off a 7-0 win over Austin Peay on Tuesday. They claimed a road series win over Tennessee last weekend.

Vanderbilt leads the SEC with a team batting average of .306 and is led by junior Dominic Keegan with a .398 batting average, 43 hits, 33 RBIs and 31 runs. Junior Isaiah Thomas and Freshman Enrique Bradfield Jr. are both batting .336. Sophomore Carter Young is batting .299 and is tied with Keegan with a team-high 33 RBIs and 43 hits.

The Vanderbilt pitching staff is No. 1 in the nation in hits allowed per nine inning (5.61) and owns a team ERA of 2.79. It has struck out 414 batters in 313 innings pitched and is limiting opposing hitters to a .176 batting average.

The Bulldogs and Commodores are meeting for the 125th time on the diamond. MSU leads the all-time series 71-51-2.

Friday, April 23 (7 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: LHP Christian MacLeod (3-2, 2.83 ERA)

VU: RHP Kumar Rocker (8-1, 1.64 ERA)

TV: SEC Network

Live Video: https://hailst.at/3ncER5W

Live Audio: https://hailst.at/audio

Live Stats: http://hailst.at/StatBroadcast

Saturday, April 24 (7 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Will Bednar (2-1, 3.55 ERA)