Mississippi State
Ole Miss
MSU Carrying Momentum Into Rivalry Series
May 08, 2025 | Baseball
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State is riding a four-game winning streak and will be looking to carry the momentum of an SEC series sweep into its final home series of the season.
The Diamond Dawgs swept Kentucky at Dudy Noble Field last weekend and will try to do the same when instate rival Ole Miss invades campus for a three-game series.
The series against the 24th-ranked Rebels starts on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network, continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch. The final two games of the series will be streamed on SEC Network+.
Interim head coach Justin Parker plans to send the same starting pitching rotation to the mound that brought the Bulldogs success last weekend. Junior left-hander Pico Kohn gets the ball first for State. Kohn is 5-2 with a 3.90 earned run average and ranks fifth in the conference with 93 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 67 innings.
Ole Miss counters on Friday with a southpaw of its own in Hunter Elliott. The redshirt junior is 6-3 with a 3.71 ERA, 71 strikeouts and 31 walks through 60 2/3 innings of work in a dozen starts.
Junior right-hander Evan Siary (1-1, 4.95 ERA, 42 K, 13 BB) is set to start for the Diamond Dawgs on Saturday while senior righty Karson Ligon (4-5, 6.75 ERA, 52 K, 18 BB) goes on Sunday.
The Rebels will send a pair of senior righties to the mound for the final two games of the series. Riley Maddox (5-4, 5.80 ERA, 49 K, 21 BB) gets the nod on Saturday while Mason Nichols (3-1, 5.40 ERA, 45 K, 18 BB) toes the rubber on Sunday.
MSU enters the weekend at 29-19 overall and 10-14 in SEC play. The Bulldogs had their first midweek off this spring and will be vying to stay unbeaten since Parker took over the team on April 28.
Mississippi State is hitting .305 as a team with 80 home runs and scoring 7.8 runs per game. The Diamond Dawgs maintain a .973 fielding percentage and have stolen 40 bases in 48 tries on the year.
Senior left fielder Gehrig Frei leads the MSU regulars with a .364 batting average while sophomore third baseman Ace Reese tops the team with 63 hits, 13 doubles, one triple, 16 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .692 slugging percentage. Reese is riding a 15-game hitting streak while junior designated hitter Noah Sullivan has an active on-base streak of 31 games. Junior right fielder Ross Highfill is the Bulldogs' biggest base thief with 11 steals in 14 attempts.
Senior first baseman Hunter Hines has hit 65 career home runs, which is tied for the most among active Division I players. Hines is two shy of tying Rafael Palmeiro (1983-85) for the most in school history and his 206 career RBIs match Jon Knott (1998-2001) and Connor Powers (2007-10) for the fifth-most in Mississippi State's annals. He needs one more to equal Tommy Raffo (1987-90) for fourth all-time at State.
Diamond Dawg hurlers sport the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the country at 3.32 and rank fourth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.7 with opposing hitters batting just .228 against them.
MSU has a collective team ERA of 4.43 with 522 strikeouts and 157 walks in 402 2/3 innings. Kohn leads the team in strikeouts while Cade O'Leary and Gavin Black both hold flawless ERAs. Luke Dotson, Chase Hungate and Stone Simmons are all tied for the team lead with two saves apiece.
Ole Miss was also off in the midweek and comes to town at 33-15 overall and 13-11 in the league. The Rebels lost their road series at now 17th-ranked Oklahoma last weekend but managed to salvage the Sunday game 7-3 against the Sooners.
Mike Bianco's bunch is batting .287 with 88 homers and averaging 7.8 runs a game. Ole Miss has stolen 63 bases in 83 attempts and fields at a .973 clip.
Luke Hill leads the Rebels with 62 hits, a .344 batting average and 16 steals in 21 chances while Austin Fawley tops the team with 15 long balls. Judd Utermark has driven in a team-best 45 runs.
Ole Miss' pitching staff maintains a 4.60 ERA with 517 strikeouts and 187 walks in 417 innings of work. Opposing teams are hitting .243 against them with 49 home runs.
Elliott is the Rebels' strikeout leader while Connor Spencer sports a team-low 0.56 ERA and has four of their 11 saves to top Ole Miss in that category as well.
State leads the all-time series 267-214-5 against the Rebels dating back to 1893. Ole Miss rallied to win the Governor's Cup 8-7 in 10 innings earlier this season in Pearl on April 22.
Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the baseball program. Fans can also follow the program on social media by searching 'HailStateBB' on X, Facebook and Instagram.
