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State set for a showdown with the No. 8 Tigers in Baton Rouge

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•03/26/25•

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Pico Kohn (Photo by Mississippi State Athletics)

Just three weeks into the SEC schedule, Mississippi State is feeling the pressure.

The Diamond Dawgs have aspirations of not only playing in the NCAA Regionals again but hosting for the first time since 2021. After two losing seasons in SEC play and a two-seed selection last year, it’s brought the heat to this year’s team and they’re just 1-5 in the first two weekends.

State has certainly had some tough competition with a three-game sweep to No. 7 Texas and a series loss to No. 9 Oklahoma. But the way the Diamond Dawgs lost those games has left opportunity on the table.

The road gets no easier for the Diamond Dawgs this weekend with a trip to rowdy Alex Box Stadium to take on No. 8 LSU (23-3, 4-2 SEC). State has actually won three of the last four series against the Tigers and three of the last four at their stadium as well.

“I think it’s just SEC baseball. You’re playing teams that are playing really well at the time,” Lemonis said. “Obviously, they’re talented, but they’re playing well and we haven’t done enough. I haven’t watched them a ton, but you’ve got to go in there and compete. We’ve had success there, but we’ve competed our (expletive) off.”

Pitching plans still influx

The series will have a little different feel to it as the two teams will meet starting on Thursday (7 p.m. SEC Network). Due to the weekend moving up a day, it creates some questions as to what the two teams will do with pitching.

Specifically, the two aces will be factored in for pitching coaches Justin Parker and Nate Yeskie. Two of the top lefthanders in the entire country could matchup with each other as Kade Anderson (5-0, 2.65 ERA) faces off with Pico Kohn (4-0, 2.52). The pitching decisions had not yet been decided by the afternoon on Wednesday, but Lemonis and Parker were pondering whether or not to move Kohn up a day after pitching last Friday.

“You love playing on Thursday night because of the exposure for college baseball is great, but what it does to Friday night starters makes it tough,” Lemonis said. “I learned that my first year with Ethan Small and thought that wore him out bouncing back and forth. We’re looking at it. We just want to be what’s good for Pico. I think that’s the most important thing for the long run.”

State (16-9, 1-5 SEC) has been perplexing at this point in the year. The numbers have been fairly strong at the plate and on the mound with the Bulldogs pushing out one of the best staffs in the country with a 3.39 ERA (11th) and 291 strikeouts (5th) coming in at top 12 in the nation.

At the plate, the Bulldogs are improving numbers across the board after last season. The power numbers are up, and State has been more productive top to bottom in the lineup. However, State has often come up empty in big situations and the team hasn’t been able to settle on an offensive lineup because of issues in the field.   

If State wants to pull out an upset in Baton Rouge, the Diamond Dawgs are going to have to be great in all three phases. That’s the challenge from Lemonis this week as his team looks to get back in the fight.

“This group is going to have to go in there and earn every inning, strike and hit they get to play against one of the better programs in the country because we’ve got to start getting some SEC wins,” Lemonis said. “We do have some opportunities as the season goes on to get to where we want to be.”

After Thursday night’s showdown, State and LSU will square off Friday night at 6:30. They’ll finish out the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The final two games can be seen on SEC Network +.

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