Mississippi State softball prepares for battle with the Hogs

The No. 20 Mississippi State Bulldogs are set to square off against the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks this weekend in Fayetteville, and Mississippi State could use a road series win in a big way.

After dropping two of three at home last weekend against Texas A&M, the Bulldogs are looking to bounce back with a chance at another top 25 road matchup this weekend, but the Hogs won’t make it easy. Mississippi State will even be squaring off against one of their own in the SEC matchup.

Arkansas Pitching vs. Mississippi State Offense

Robyn Herron has drawn the most starts for the Razorbacks, and boasts a 1.72 ERA over the course of 69.0 IP. She’s started in 11 out of 15 appearances and has already struck out 82 batters on the year. If she draws a pair of starts this weekend, it wouldn’t be too far out of reason to say she’s going for her 100th of the season against Mississippi State. Herron serves as the ace for the Hogs and will probably draw the start in Friday’s 6 p.m. matchup.

Morgan Leinstock is a do-it-all arm for the Razorbacks. She’s appeared in 15 games, but only started six while tossing for 63.0 IP thus far on the year. She can come in to close out a game, or throw for a start when needed. Her 1.22 ERA is good enough for the lowest among pitchers with significant innings for the Hogs, and her 6-0 record in her starts is the highlight of her stat line. She’s also already at 75 K’s on the year, and finishes out a potent 1-2 punch in the circle for Arkansas.

Former Mississippi State pitcher Reis Beuerlein has also seen some run with Arkansas this year, but to this point has only tossed 16.2 IP with a 2.10 ERA. The former Bulldog may be chomping at the bit to get some more innings under her belt this series.

Mississippi State will yet again have its work cut out at the plate, as the team will virtually every time they take the field in SEC play, but there is plenty of hope.

News flash – Madisyn Kennedy is still red hot at the plate. Her .421 average is far and away the best on the team, and she has more than double the home runs of any of her Bulldog counterparts. It might be a wise decision for teams to start pitching around her, and if Arkansas does just that, Mississippi State will have to find production elsewhere.

Luckily, the Bulldogs can do just that. With only one regular starter hitting less than .300 on the season, Mississippi State is still plenty dangerous at the dish as a team. Jessie Blane is still slashing .368/.642/.494 up to this point, and provides an excellent second source of offense within herself. That’s before factoring in how Nadia Barbary, Sierra Sacco and Paige Cook are swinging it, too.

Bulldog arms vs. Hog bats

Mississippi State’s rotation didn’t quite get lit ablaze by Texas A&M, but it definitely wasn’t the series Mississippi State imagined as far as their efforts from the circle went. Both starters in Aspen Wesley and Josey Marron are up over 2.0 ERA now, which isn’t bad in comparison to the rest of the country, but isn’t even good enough for a top 13 spot in the SEC.

Every team in the conference has one or two absolute shut down pitchers, and last series, Mississippi State didn’t quite have that. They had good pitching, but were hurt in the two losses on the weekend by having to face off against great pitching.

The arm situation is what it is, so Mississippi State will have to rely on its red hot offense to put up enough runs to give the rotation some cushion. That’s easier said than done, but if the Mississippi State team that took Sunday’s matchup with A&M shows up, the Bulldogs have a chance at their second SEC series win of the year.

All games this weekend will be broadcast on the SEC Network+ and will start at 6 p.m., 2 p.m. and noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.