No. 9 Mississippi State baseball travels to New Orleans for 3-game weekend series against Tulane

NEW ORLEANS — The No. 9 Mississippi State baseball team will open a three-game road series against the Tulane Green Wave Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.

The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ for subscribers.

The Bulldogs (5-4, 0-0 SEC) are coming off a 7-1 loss to Grambling State on Wednesday, which came after a 2-1 win over Grambling State on Tuesday. In Wednesday’s loss, junior Logan Tanner was 2-for-4 with one RBI, while freshman Hunter Hines also finished with two hits.

On the season, MSU is hitting .260 as a team with 11 home runs, six doubles and 58 runs scored. Senior Brad Cumbest is leading the way with 10 hits, three home runs and eight RBIs on a .400 batting average, while senior Luke Hancock is batting .313 with 10 hits and two doubles. Junior Logan Tanner has also recorded 10 hits with eight RBIs on a .303 batting average.

MSU pitchers have combined for a 3.92 team ERA in 78 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .230 against the staff, while MSU pitchers have struck out 102 batters and walked 34. MSU’s 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference and 26th nationally.

The Green Wave (8-1, 0-0 AAC) are coming off a pair of midweek wins over Texas Southern (10-2) on Wednesday and Southeastern Louisiana (23-1) on Tuesday. Last weekend, Tulane earned a series win at Louisiana Tech with a 13-5 win in the rubber match.

Redshirt sophomore Ethan Groff leads the team with 13 hits, 10 RBIs and 16 runs on a .419 batting average, while sophomore Chase Engelhard is hitting .300 with nine hits, 14 RBIs and eight runs.

The Green Wave pitching staff has a combined 3.08 ERA and has struck out 72 batters in 76 innings. The staff has also limited hitters to a .216 average. Sophomore lefty Dylan Carmouche, who is a Mississippi State transfer, has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings pitches and is slotted to start on Saturday.

Friday’s series opener will mark the 113th meeting between the Bulldogs and Green Wave on the diamond. MSU leads the all-time series 78-32-2. The Bulldogs won two of three games over Tulane last year.

Friday, March 4 (6:30 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Landon Sims (0-2, 1.50 ERA)

TU: RHP Tyler Hoffman (0-1, 3.86 ERA)

Live Video: ESPN+

Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=397719

Saturday, March 5 (2 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Preston Johnson (1-0, 1.74 ERA)

TU: LHP Dylan Carmouche (2-0, 0.69 ERA)

Live Video: ESPN+

Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=397720

Sunday, March 6 (1 p.m. CT)

Probable Starters:

MSU: RHP Cade Smith (2-0, 0.84 ERA)

TU: RHP Michael Massey (1-0, 5.79 ERA)

Live Video: ESPN+

Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=397721