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Mississippi State

Pico Kohn set for showdown with Jamie Arnold in Tallahassee winner's bracket

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•05/31/25•

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Pico Kohn (Photo by Mississippi State Athletics)

Speculation ran rampant on Friday night of Mississippi State’s starting pitching situation for the Tallahassee Regional, and now there is clarity.

Bulldog ace Pico Kohn will toe the rubber on Saturday night when his team takes on No. 1 seed Florida State in the winner’s bracket game. The news comes after interim head coach Justin Parker stated that Ben Davis’ Friday start against Northeastern was “health-related”.

That statement from Parker brought into question Kohn’s availability not just for Saturday, but for the rest of the Regional and potentially beyond. That speculation can now be put to bed with Kohn taking the mound on Saturday when the Dawgs and Noles meet at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

It’s big news for a State team that is hoping to continue through the winner’s bracket and advance to a Regional championship in Tallahassee. Kohn has been MSU’s top starter since game one and brings with him a 5-3 record with a 4.17 ERA in 14 starts. He’s thrown 76.1 innings and given up 63 hits, 35 earned runs and 25 walks while striking out 107 batters and allowing just a .220 batting average from the opponent.

It’s easily been the most innings that Kohn has thrown in his career which has brought along some fatigue on the backend of the season. Kohn has gotten through the sixth inning just twice in SEC play and he has surrendered six or more runs in two of his last four starts.

However, there is hope that extended rest could be the difference for Kohn in the postseason. His last appearance came on May 15 against Missouri where he went 4.1 innings, gave up two hits and four walks but no runs while striking out seven batters. He didn’t pitch in State’s SEC Tournament game last week.

“Everyone is a little different. Pico, coming off his first season after Tommy John, we’re seeing a little bit of that (fatigue) the last month. But there’s nobody tougher,” Parker said earlier this week. “Prying the ball out of his hand is incredibly difficult. He wants the ball and he’ll be in a good spot. We hope that we get the best version of him this weekend.”

State got into the winner’s bracket on Friday night after dismantling Northeastern 11-2 in their first matchup of the Regional. The Bulldogs used 13 hits and two home runs to roll the staff that leads the country in ERA and handed the Huskies their first loss in the last 28 games.

Davis got the surprise start as the team’s most-used reliever went 5.0 strong innings with five hits, two runs, two walks and three strikeouts.

“As we’re looking for another option, the matchup suited him best,” Parker said. “As far as the expectations, this guy has been good for us all year in a multitude of roles and that’s what I expected him to do. He got better as the game went on.”

It will be best-on-best tonight at Dick Howser Stadium as Kohn will be matched up with arguably the best left hander in the country in Jamie Arnold (7-2, 3.04). Like Kohn, Arnold has been scuffling just a bit the last couple of weeks as he’s thrown a combined 10.0 innings against North Carolina and Duke and surrendered 12 hits, nine runs, three walks and struck out 15 batters.

Arnold has 97 strikeouts to just 24 walks through 71.0 innings this year.

The Bulldogs will be a little lighter in the bullpen on Saturday as they will be without Davis and likely Ryan McPherson who pitched the final 4.0 innings of the game on Friday night.

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