HOOVER, Ala. — The Mississippi State baseball team will open its postseason campaign tonight against No. 16 LSU in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The Bulldogs (45-11, 20-10 SEC) enter the weekend as the No. 4 seed while the Tigers (35-22, 17-13) are slated at No. 5. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium and it will air on SEC Network.
MSU will be led by three of its four first team All-SEC honorees in senior Jake Mangum and sophomores Justin Foscue and Tanner Allen.
Allen comes into the contest on a tear of late. He finished the final regular season series of the year against South Carolina 12-for-15 with eight RBIs and five extra-base hits.
Foscue was similarly dominant last week, totaling nine hits in 17 at-bats against both South Carolina and Louisiana Tech. His 14 home runs are tied-for-fifth in the SEC.
Mangum slumped slightly against the Gamecocks and Louisiana Tech, totaling just two hits in 21 at-bats, though he does have five multi-hit outings in his past 11 games.
MSU has yet to announce a starter for today’s game, though freshman Brandon Smith and redshirt junior Keegan James are likely candidates.
Smith started last week’s nonconference finale against Louisiana Tech, pitching two innings of three-hit ball while James tossed two thirds of an inning against the Gamecocks Saturday in relief.
“As you start going into the postseason we need an extra starter, a guy that can throw strikes, and we wanted (Smith) to warm up like a starter,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said after a 7-3 win over the Bulldogs. “Hopefully he got a little bit of experience in doing that.”
LSU enters the matchup having disposed of South Carolina in the opening round 8-6.
Josh Smith, Daniel Cabrera, Antoine Duplantis and Zach Watson will anchor the Tiger offense. Smith leads the team in batting average while Duplantis’ 76 hits are the most on the roster.
Cabrera will bring a powerful bat to the LSU lineup as he has slugged a team-leading 12 home runs on the year.
The Tigers will turn to sophomore pitcher Eric Walker for today’s start. Walker dominated the Bulldogs in an 11-2 LSU victory and a series win March 30 in Starkville, giving up just four hits in seven innings of work. He boasts a 5-4 record with a 4.86 ERA in 63 innings pitched.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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