Ben Davis making surprise start in game one of the Regional vs. Northeastern
It was a bit of a shocker for those that follow Mississippi State baseball, but Justin Parker is rolling the dice in game one of the Tallahassee Regional.
The interim head coach didn’t go with any of his regular starters for the first game with Northeastern and instead announced reliever Ben Davis will draw the start on Friday evening. It will be the fourth start of the season for Davis who has pitched in more games than any player on the roster.
Davis is the only player on the team to pitch in 20 or more games as the junior has thrown 22 appearances this year. He’s third on the team in innings pitched (52.1) and has a 3.96 ERA with a 3-2 mark. Davis has 58 strikeouts and 22 walks this year as well.
Though Davis has thrown a lot of innings this season, his stints have regularly been around 3.0 innings or less. He did go 6.0 innings against Queens earlier this season and gave up a run on a hit and four strikeouts in his start, but otherwise he has not pitched beyond 4.0 innings
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Davis has pitched in six games since MSU’s coaching change back last month. Against all SEC competition, the Booneville native has thrown 12.0 frames, surrendered eight hits, two earned runs, six walks and he’s struck out 12 batters. His last appearance came in a 9-0 loss to Texas A&M in which he threw 3.0 innings, gave up three hits, one earned run, one walk and struck out a batter.
With the news out about Davis starting, it means Parker looks to be holding starting LHP Pico Kohn and RHP Evan Siary for potential games later in the Regional. The Bulldogs will match up with Northeastern LHP ace Will Jones (11-0, 1.82 ERA).
On the line is the Huskies’ 27-game winning streak and a chance for the two teams to push themselves into a winner’s bracket. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on ESPN+.
