No. 5 Mississippi State baseball hosts Texas A&M in weekend series

The series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m.

By Collin Wilmes@CollinWilmes Apr 30, 2021, 5:41pm EDT

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The No. 5 Mississippi State baseball team (29-10, 11-7 SEC) will host the Texas A&M Aggies (24-19, 5-13 SEC) for a three-game Southeastern Conference series at Dudy Noble Field.

The series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be streaming on SEC Network+. Both Game 2 and Game 3 will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday’s game will be streaming on SEC Network+, while Sunday’s game will be televised nationally on SEC Network.

The Bulldogs had the midweek off while final exams wrapped up and are coming off a series loss at No. 2 Vanderbilt last weekend. MSU lost the series opener 6-2 before winning the middle game 7-4 and dropping the rubber game 7-4.

Senior Tanner Allen leads the MSU offense with a .350 batting average, 49 hits, 41 runs and 38 RBIs. Senior Rowdey Jordan is batting .306 with 45 hits, 43 runs and 25 RBIs, while sophomore Kamren James leads the team with 40 RBIs and eight home runs on a .285 batting average.

The MSU pitching staff leads the nation with 503 strikeouts in 348 innings pitched. The staff is limiting opposing batters to .205 hitting.

The Aggies defeated Texas State 4-0 on Tuesday and are coming off a series loss to then-No. 5 Tennessee. They have lost seven of their last nine SEC games.

Texas A&M is led by the trio of senior Will Frizzell, junior Austin Bost and graduate student Ray Alejo. Frizzell is batting .331 with 52 hits, 35 RBIs, 33 runs and 13 home runs. Bost and Alejo are both batting .321 with 45 hits.

The Aggie pitching staff’s 467 strikeouts in 379 ¹⁄₃ innings ranks second in the nation behind only MSU. The staff is limiting opposing hitters to a .251 batting average.

Friday’s meeting will be the 34th for the Bulldogs and Aggies on the diamond. MSU leads the series 18-15.

Friday, April 30 (6:30 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: LHP Christian MacLeod (3-3, 3.40 ERA)

TAMU: LHP Dustin Saenz (5-5, 3.97 ERA)

Live Video: https://hailst.at/3xzfyQ9

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

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

Saturday, May 1 (2 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Will Bednar (3-1, 3.32 ERA)

TAMU: RHP Bryce Miller (2-1, 3.82 ERA)