No. 6 Mississippi State baseball heads to Auburn for 3-game series

Friday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

By Collin Wilmes@CollinWilmes Apr 9, 2021, 5:56pm EDT

AUBURN, Ala. — The No. 6 Mississippi State baseball team heads to Auburn for a weekend matchup against the Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park. The three-game series is slated to begin Friday at 6 p.m. CT and will be streaming on SEC Network+.

The two teams will return to play on Saturday at 2 p.m. and will wrap up the series on Sunday with a 2 p.m. first pitch. Saturday’s game will be streaming on SEC Network+, while Sunday’s game will be televised nationally on SEC Network.

The Bulldogs (21-7, 5-4 SEC) are riding a four-game winning streak into the series against the Tigers. MSU trounced Southern 15-1 on Tuesday and swept Kentucky last weekend.

Senior Tanner Allen leads MSU with a .324 batting average on a team that is hitting .272 overall. He has tallied a team-high 33 hits to go with 27 runs scored and 25 RBIs. Senior Rowdey Jordan hit .455 in three games against the Wildcats last weekend, which included five hits, six runs and two RBIs. On the year, Jordan is batting .286 with 30 hits, 28 runs and 18 RBIs.

The MSU pitching staff has fanned 10-plus batters in seven straight games and has double-digit strikeouts in 23 of 28 games. The team’s 372 strikeouts in 251 innings pitched ranks No. 1 in the nation.

The Tigers (12-13, 1-8 SEC) won their first Southeastern Conference game last weekend at No. 2 Arkansas before dropping the final two games of the series by one run each. The starting rotation combined for a 1.56 ERA and a .127 batting average against in the series.

The Auburn offense is led by junior Tyler Miller with a .376 batting average, 35 RBIs, nine home runs and 23 runs scored. Junior Brody Moore is batting .333 with 22 RBIs and 19 runs scored.

Friday’s game marks the 208th meeting between the Bulldogs and Tigers on the diamond. MSU owns a 111-95-1 edge.

Friday, April 9 (6 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: LHP Christian MacLeod (3-2, 2.67 ERA)

AU: RHP Cody Greenhill (3-0, 1.62 ERA)

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

Saturday, April 10 (2 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Will Bednar (1-0, 2.35 ERA)

AU: LHP Jack Owen (0-1, 7.04 ERA)