Preview: LSU vs Miss St – Thu 6:30 (ESPNU) | Fri 7 (ESPNU) | Sat 3 (ESPN2)

#1 LSU Fighting Tigers (38-7, 14-6) vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs at Duby Noble Field, Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS.

LSU takes to the road for a series with struggling Mississippi State. The Tigers have not lost any series against the Dogs under Paul Mainieri. This will be the 377th meeting between the programs since 1905 with LSU starting to catch up in the all-time series record, which currently stands at 200-178-1 in favor of MSU. LSU swept State last season in Alex Box, capping off the weekend with a 17-run performance on Sunday. This is State’s last home series, so Friday will be senior day at Dudy Noble. For the 2nd weekend in a row, all 3 games will be nationally televised.







Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 23-22
Conference: 7-14, 7th SEC west
Non-Conf: 16-8
Home: 20-12
Away: 3-8
Neutral: 0-2

Team Overview:
Mississippi State has made 4 straight NCAA tournament appearances, but that that record is in serious jeopardy in 2015 as the Dogs sit at 7-14 in the SEC. After starting the season 13-0 and being ranked as high as #7 in the country, MSU has gone just 10-22 and lost 7 of 8 weekend series. Barring a nearly undefeated finish and/or SEC tournament sweep, State’s season will end in disappointing fashion. MSU ranks 9th in the SEC in batting and 13th in ERA. Defense is their bright spot, ranking 3rd in the league.


Lucas Laster is the opening night starter for State. Laster has struggled of late, having not recorded more than 6 outs in each of this last 2 starts while allowing 4 runs in each contest. He is a 3 pitch lefty featuring an upper 80’s fastball that was clocked as high as 92 last summer, but you can expect 87-89mph to be the standard. He throws a curveball at any point in the count, often pitching backwards. His slider is the swing-and-miss strikeout pitch, of which he has totaled 43 K’s on the season. LSU will counter with southpaw Jared Poché.


Junior Preston Brown will get the start on senior night in Starkville. Brown has really struggled of late, allowing at least 5 runs in 4 of his last 6 starts after not allowing more than 2 runs in each of the first 5 starts on the season. He leans a lot on the fastball-changeup combination. Right handed batters hit for a .326 average against Brown while lefties hit just .217 off the junior righty.


Saturday will be a battle of Austins with Sexton going for MSU and Bain going for LSU in a matchup at 3pm on ESPN2. Sexton has good command of his fastball, changeup, and slider. The fastball sits 88-91mph and the slider in the upper 70s. He has just 18 walks to 51 strikeouts on the year.


Ross Mitchell is the leader of this bullpen despite really struggling at times this season. He was an All-American in 2013 and All-SEC last year. Mitchell has appeared in 97 games for State over 4 years with a 2.40 ERA in 288.1 career innings. Matchups will be a play when the lefty Mitchell comes in, because right handed batters tag him for a .362 average against. Trevor Fitts is the main right handed arm for Cohen and staff. He is a senior with 60 career appearances and has improved year after year.



Jacob Robson is having a breakout junior season after batting just .186 over his first two years. He leads the team in average, hits, total bases. Big Wes Rea is the only SEC player with an on-base percentage over .500, and he also leads the conference with 39 walks. Rea is hitting .464 over the last 9 games. Luke Reynolds has one fewer hit shy (7) in the last two games as he had in the previous 25 games (8). On the bases, Jacob Robson’s 17 stolen bases ranks 6th in the SEC and no other player has more than 5.


Mississippi State is #2 in the country with 54 double plays turned. Their .978 fielding percentage is 3rd in the SEC and 12th in the nation. Josh Lovelady, who has picked off 12 base runners, is a tremendous defensive catcher, but Lovelady was just filling in for the injured Gavin Collins. Collins has caught just 1 of 8 base stealers on season since returning from a hand injury.




Helpful Links
MSU Season Stats
MSU Roster
MSU Schedule (via Warren Nolan)
Live Stats via LSUsports.net
WatchESPN for Online Viewing (login required)
FAQ: How to watch LSU Baseball games this season

2014 Series Preview