Diamond Dawgs, Trojans set for top 25 battle at Dudy Noble
Tuesday night will bring a top 25 matchup to Dudy Noble Field.
Mississippi State and Troy are set for a midweek battle on Tuesday and both are in this week’s D1 Baseball rankings released on Monday morning. After going 3-1 with a loss to No. 22 Southern Miss and a sweep over Missouri State, the Diamond Dawgs stayed at their No. 18 ranking. Troy (6-1) went 3-1 on the week with a loss to Auburn and sweep of Northwestern State to move up three spots to No. 21.
The Bulldogs also moved up a spot in the Baseball America poll up to No. 15 this week while the Trojans were unranked.
After being shutout 3-0 a week ago to the Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg, State had some of the same offensive issues on Friday. The Diamond Dawgs were down 1-0 through seven innings before scoring three runs in the eighth led by Noah Sullivan’s two-run double with two outs.
That jumpstarted the Diamond Dawg offense for most of the rest of the weekend as they had a 9-3 win on Saturday and a 6-4 victory on Sunday. State struggled throwing strikes in the final two games with 17 walks, but the Bulldogs found ways to finish.
Pico Kohn was one of the major stars again on the weekend as the junior LHP came through with 6.1 innings on Friday giving up just one run with no walks and 11 strikeouts.
Now comes State’s toughest test of the early part of the season with the No. 21 Trojans coming to town. Troy has scored six or more runs in all seven games to this point with two weekend sweeps over Bellarmine and NWSU.
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Sean Darnell has hit .542 in the first seven games with 13 hits, three home runs and 12 RBI. Blake Cavill also has 13 hits and 12 RBI as he’s at .500 with four doubles. Former Bulldog Shane Lewis is batting .273 with three homers.
The group is coached by former Louisville player Skylar Meade. Coach Chris Lemonis recruited and coached him as an assistant for the Cardinals. It’s a nice test for a team that has its best start since 2019.
“Winning three at home against a quality opponent is big. I still think we have a lot of work to do,” Lemonis said on Sunday. “The last two days of not throwing enough strikes and just being productive offensively.
“We have a really good opponent coming in on Tuesday night in a top 25 team coming in. The head coach is a former player of mine back at Louisville and another one caught for me back at Indiana. They’re talented and we’ve got to bring our A game.”
