STARKVILLE – Mississippi State baseball is coming off back-to-back SEC series victories and will be going for a third when it welcomes Florida to Dudy Noble Field on Easterweekend.
The Bulldogs took two of three from South Carolina at home two weeks ago before traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and garnering pair of wins from the then 12th-ranked Crimson Tide.
MSU's series with the Gators begins on Friday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network and carries into a Saturday contest at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Sunday's finale is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start on ESPN2.
The Diamond Dawgs plan to send out the same pitching rotation that helped them claim series the past two weekends. Pico Kohn is set to start Friday's game for State. In nine previous starts, the junior southpaw is 4-1 with a 3.26 ERA and ranks fifth in the conference with 70 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings.
Florida will counter with sophomore right-hander Liam Peterson on Friday. Peterson has started eight games and sports a 5-2 record and a 3.63 ERA, 61 strikeouts and 19 walks through 39 2/3 innings of work.
Mississippi State rounds out its weekend rotation with a pair of righties, junior Evan Siary (0-1, 3.91 ERA, 27 K, 8 BB) on Saturday and senior Karson Ligon (3-4, 5.13 ERA, 43 K, 12 BB) on Sunday. The Gators will go with freshman righty Aidan King (4-1, 2.68 ERA, 44 K, 12 BB) in Game 2 but have not announced their pitching plans for the finale.
MSU comes into the series at 23-14 overall and 5-10 in SEC play. The Bulldogs are riding high followinga 16-2 run-rule triumph at home over Southern in seven innings on Tuesday.
State is hitting .301 as a team with 58 home runs and scoring 7.4 runs per game. Chris Lemonis' club has stolen 36 bases in 42 tries and maintains a .970 fielding percentage.
Junior designated hitter Noah Sullivan tops the Diamond Dawgs' regulars with a .352 batting average and is tied with sophomore third baseman Ace Reese for the team lead with 43 hits apiece. Reese is tied for seventh in the conference in both homers (12) and RBIs (43). Sophomore catcher Ross Highfill has a team-high nine steals in 11 attempts.
Senior first baseman Hunter Hines has hit 62 home runs over the course of his career, which is tied for the most among active players in Division I and the second-highest mark in school history. Hines needs five more to match Rafael Palmeiro (1983-85) for the most in Mississippi State's record books.
The Bulldogs' pitching staff surrenders the fewest hits per nine innings (6.9) of any team in the country. They also rank third nationally averaging 12 strikeouts per nine innings and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.52 and also ranks fourth in Division I with a WHIP of 1.15.
MSU'S hurlers have a collective 3.65 team ERA with 412 strikeouts and 117 walks in 308 innings this season. Opponents are hitting just .208 against them.
Kohn is the team-leader in strikeouts while Cade O'Leary and Gavin Black both have perfect ERAs. Stone Simmons, Chase Hungate and Luke Dotson have all recorded two saves on the spring to top the Diamond Dawgs in that category.
Florida enters the series at 25-14 overall and 4-11 in conference play. The Gators swept Missouri at home last weekend and are coming off a 14-4 victory in Gainesville over Stetson in seven innings on Tuesday.
Florida is batting .299 as a team with 61 homers and scoring 7.5 runs per game. Kevin O'Sullivan's squad fields at a .981 clip and has swiped 55 bases in 67 chances this spring.
Colby Shelton tops the Gators with a .370 batting average while Bobby Boser has blasted 14 long balls, driven in 42 runs and leads the team with 11 steals in 12 tries.
Florida has a staff ERA of 5.28 with 419 strikeouts and 163 walks through 319 frames this season. Its opposition is batting.244 and has hit 42 home runs.
Peterson paces the Gators in strikeouts while Frank Menendez sports a team-low 1.29 ERA. Jake Clemente and Alex Philpott have each closed out a pair of games at the back end of the bullpen.
Florida leads the overall series 71-51 and won a pair of one-run games to take last year's series in Gainesville. The Diamond Dawgs' did have a 12-2 victory during the 2024 series against the then sixth-ranked Gators. Hines went 3-for-4 with three singles in that win.
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