Alabama Heads to Starkville for Three-Game Series with 11th-Ranked Mississippi State
4/19/2017 5:12:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs will meet for the 413th time in series history on Thursday night
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama travels to Starkville for a three-game Southeastern Conference series with Mississippi State at Dudy Noble Field from Thursday through Saturday. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs are set for a 6 p.m. CT start in the series opener on Thursday, followed by a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday. Saturday's series finale is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT. The first game of the series will air nationally on SEC Network with Jason Benetti (play-by-play) and Mike Rooney (analyst) on the call. The final two games of the pairing will stream live on SEC Network+.
FOLLOW THE TIDE
Fans can follow all three games via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network (Thursday) / SEC Network+ (Friday & Saturday)
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: HailState.com
LEADING OFF
• Alabama and Mississippi State will meet for the 413th time in series history when the two teams square off for the opener on Thursday evening. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time advantage, 215-193-4, but the Bulldogs have the upper hand at home, maintaining a 108-80-2 mark in games played in Starkville. The two teams met four times in 2016, first for a three-game series in Tuscaloosa that fell in favor of State, 2-1, from April 28-30, and then for a single contest in Hoover at the SEC Tournament, a game that finished 4-1 with the Bulldogs in front.
• Mississippi State welcomes the Tide to Starkville with a 25-14 overall mark, including a 10-5 record in SEC play. The Bulldogs are coming off a 5-2 loss at South Alabama on Tuesday evening. Prior to the matchup in Mobile, MSU took two-of-three games in Columbia against South Carolina a weekend ago. State has won four of its five SEC series thus far, including sweeps of Tennessee at home and Ole Miss in Oxford.
• The Crimson Tide will begin the three-game series with sophomore left-hander Dylan Duarte on the mound on Thursday night. Alabama looks to senior righty Nick Eicholtz on Friday evening with Saturday's starter for the series finale still to be announced.
• The Bulldogs look to sophomore left-hander Konnor Pilkington in Thursday's series opener and will follow with fellow sophomore Cole Gordon, a righty, on Friday evening. The Bulldogs will finally call on right-handed redshirt junior Jacob Billingsley in the series finale on Saturday.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
THURSDAY: UA – Dylan Duarte (So., LHP) vs. MSU – Konnor Pilkington (So., LHP)
FRIDAY: UA – Nick Eicholtz (Sr., RHP) vs. MSU – Cole Gordon (So., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA – TBA vs. MSU – Jacob Billingsley (R-Jr., RHP)
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama has gone 1-3 over its last four games, most recently claiming an 18-1 win over Alcorn State on Tuesday evening. Prior to the single contest with the Braves, the Tide was swept at home by the Texas A&M Aggies last weekend.
• Tuesday night saw the Alabama offense go off, as the Crimson Tide claimed an 18-1 win over Alcorn State in seven innings. The offensive output included 13 hits and seven walks on the way to a season-high 18 runs - all coming from the third through the sixth innings.
• Alabama's offense scored a season-high six runs in both the third and sixth innings, while adding three-run frames in the fourth and fifth.
• Twelve of the Tide's 14 offensive players collected at least one run with all but one batter reaching base on the night. UA's offensive output was led by Cody Henry, who finished 3-for-5 with two home runs - including his first career grand slam. Henry added a team-high seven RBI and two runs to his line. Chandler Avant also tallied a grand slam for his first career home run, finishing 2-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored. Avant's night extended his hitting streak to a team-long 11 games.
• Deacon Medders earned his first career win with a season-long 5.0 innings of work in his starting effort. Medders allowed one run on four hits and a walk while striking out four batters across his 68 pitches. The Tide bullpen then took over, with the threesome of Sam Finnerty, Tyler Adams and Sonny Potter working the final 2.0 frames.
• The Tide's comeback effort fell short in Saturday's series finale with Texas A&M, as the Aggies claimed a 3-2 win. Alabama received an impressive performance from its starter Nick Eicholtz, who worked 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only one hit while walking four and striking out a season-high six batters.
• UA struck first with one run in the bottom of the first on Saturday, but a three-run home run by A&M in the seventh put the Aggies out front. The Tide threatened in the ninth, scoring one to make it a one-run affair, but a strikeout went as the game's final out with the tying and winning runs left on base.
• Alabama suffered an 8-2 to loss to A&M on Friday evening. The Tide's starter was chased early, but the threesome of Zac Rogers, Mike Oczypok and Finnerty combined to limit the Aggies to only one run over the final 4.2 frames. Texas A&M starter Corbin Martin picked up his fourth win of the season with 7.0 innings of one-run baseball.
• A total of five errors resulted in five unearned runs as Alabama fell to the Aggies, 9-5, in the series opener on Thursday. A&M built an early 4-0 lead, but UA rallied back to take a 5-4 lead after four innings of play. UA was able to chase the Aggies' starter early after 3.2 innings, but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The Aggies scored three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to regain the lead and then put things out of reach.
• The Crimson Tide returned Tuscaloosa in 2016 after spending 2015 on the road while Sewell-Thomas Stadium was undergoing renovations. Alabama finished with a 19-12 home record at The Joe compared to a 13-14 record in road and neutral-site contests in the first year of the new stadium.
• Alabama's roster features 20 letterwinners from the 2016 squad that reached the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The 2017 Tide returns five positional starters and three starting pitchers while welcoming 16 newcomers.
SERIES HISTORY – MISSISSIPPI STATE
• Alabama and Mississippi State will meet on Thursday night for the 413th time in a series that dates back to 1896, when State was referred to as Mississippi A&M. The SEC pairing with the Bulldogs is the third-oldest in UA baseball history, trailing only Vanderbilt (1893) and Ole Miss (1895).
• The Crimson Tide holds the all-time advantage, 215-193-4, but the Bulldogs lead by a 108-80-2 margin in games played in Starkville. Alabama has won four of the last five series played in Starkville, including a 2-1 series victory when the two teams last met at Dudy Noble Field from March 14-15, 2015.
• The very first series between the two schools came in 1896, with Alabama winning 9-2 on game one followed by an 11-2 victory in the next pairing. The Tide would go on to win six more games until its first loss in 1906.
• Alabama and Mississippi State met for a three-game series last season in Tuscaloosa from April 28-30. The third-ranked Bulldogs secured the win in the series opener before a rainout of game two forced a doubleheader on getaway day.
• State took game one, 12-5, using a five-spot in the top of the ninth to end the Tide's hopes at a comeback in what was a one-run game heading into the seventh.
• Friday's second game was rained out, forcing a doubleheader featuring two seven-inning contests on Saturday. The Crimson Tide earned a 4-3, walkoff win in nine innings in game one of the day. Down 3-2 in the ninth, UA used four consecutive walks to tie up the game before a Chance Vincent single back up the middle sealed the win for the Crimson Tide. Jake Walters tossed 6.1 innings, striking out six and allowing only two earned runs in the effort. Matt Foster followed with 2.2 frames on the way to his fifth win of the season.
• The second game of the twinbill went to MSU, with the Bulldogs using an error in the second inning to score two for the 2-1 win. Nick Eicholtz suffered the loss despite 6.0 innings of four-hit baseball and allowing two unearned runs with a walk. Eicholtz struck out a season-high tying five batters and retired nine of the final 10 he faced.
• Alabama and Mississippi State squared off in the SEC Tournament with the top-seeded Bulldogs winning 4-1. MSU starter Zac Houston had the Crimson Tide's number, working 8.2 innings of one-run baseball, allowing just four hits and not issuing a walk. He was pulled in the bottom of the ninth after allowing a pair of hits as UA tried to mount a comeback. Georgie Salem kept the game alive with a two-out double before Chandler Taylor followed with a double of his own off the wall to score Salem and make it 4-1, but the Tide would come no closer.
• Alabama head coach Greg Goff is 0-1 for his career against Mississippi State.
ON DECK
Alabama will next welcome the Jacksonville State Gamecocks to Sewell-Thomas Stadium on Tuesday, April 25. First pitch of the midweek contest is set for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. The two teams met earlier this season, with Jacksonville State claiming a 2-1 win in 10 innings at The Joe on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
