STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State baseball team is getting close to the Southeastern Conference portion of its schedule.
First, though, MSU will play one more weekend against a non-conference opponent that resembles a SEC team. At 6:30 tonight, No. 24 MSU (9-3-1) will play host to No. 11 Oregon (8-2) in the first game of a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field. Game 2 is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, while Game 3 is slated for 10:30 a.m. Sunday. All three games can be seen on SEC Network+.
“They’re a really good club, and it’s really like another SEC weekend for us,” MSU coach John Cohen said. “It’s a very good club that can go deep into the postseason.”
Oregon was scheduled to play Thursday night at Alabama, but the game was rained out. Oregon has lost two one-run games at home: 3-2 to Illinois State 3-2 on Feb. 27 and 1-0 in 14 innings to the University of California Santa Barbara on March 5.
Oregon will start three left-handers. Junior Cole Irvin (2-0, 0.82 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight, sophomore Matt Krook (0-0, 1.59) is slated to go Saturday, and sophomore David Peterson (2-0, 0.45) in scheduled to pitch Sunday.
MSU will start junior right-hander Dakota Hudson (1-1, 1.50 ERA) tonight and junior right-hander Austin Sexton (1-1, 4.91) Saturday. Cohen said junior left-hander Daniel Brown, junior right-hander Zac Houston, or junior left-hander Vance Tatum will start Sunday. He leaned toward Tatum, but he said it depended if he pitched in relief in the first two games.
Junior Jack Kruger leads MSU with a .479 batting average, three home runs and 18 RBIs. Kruger, who returned to his home state last weekend, played 28 games for Oregon as a freshman in 2014, but he transferred to Orange Coast (Calif.) College before heading to Starkville. He has been the designated hitter in every game, but is a catcher by trade. He had surgery on his throwing arm in the fall.
“Jack wants to play worse than anybody, but he’s got to throw a ball full-speed for that to happen,” Cohen said. “We’re still working through his shoulder issue.”
The Ducks are hitting .208 as a team and have scored 55 runs. They have a team ERA of 1.61.
“There’s no question pitching and defense lead the way,” Cohen said. “They just defend it so well. They have three left-handers that are as good as anybody. It’s a great opportunity for us to get ready to play in the best league in America.”
n In related news, MSU catcher Elih Marrero was one of three freshman catchers named Thursday to the Johnny Bench Award watch list.
The award is presented annually to the best catcher in college baseball. Semifinalists will be announced May 18. Finalists will be announced June 6. The winner will be announced June 30 at the 19th annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet.
Marrero has played in 11 games (nine starts). He is batting .242 and hasn’t committed an error.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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