Bulldogs Continue Road Swing At UAB Wednesday

Wednesday, March 4

Birmingham, Ala.

5 p.m.

Mississippi State

UAB

Bulldogs Continue Road Swing At UAB Wednesday

March 03, 2026 | Softball

Game Notes

By: Brian Ogden, Director/Communications

STARKVILLE – No. 12/17 Mississippi State will play at UAB on Wednesday night with a 5 p.m. CT first pitch set to air on ESPN+.

The Bulldogs sit at 18-2, their second-best 20-game start in program history behind only a 19-1 mark in 2014. This week also saw State claim its highest ranking ever in yet another poll as the Bulldogs are No. 13 in D1Softball.com's rankings. MSU remains No. 12 in the NFCA poll, which is its best mark in that poll as well.

State and UAB have met five times in the past two seasons, with the Bulldogs winning all five of those games by a combined score of 51-7. Three of those games have ended in a run-rule as MSU boasts 37 run-rule victories since the start of the 2024 season.

State has been led this season by phenomenal pitching performances, allowing more than three runs just once all year in an 8-4 win against Memphis. MSU has only trailed by more than one run at one point this season, and that came in a 3-0 loss at No. 25 Clemson last Saturday.

Leading Off

High Water Mark: Mississippi State has recorded its highest rankings in program history in both the NFCA (No.12) and D1 Softball (No.13) polls this season. State has reached a new high in at least one of the polls in each of the last three weeks in a row.

Topping The Charts: The Bulldog bullpen leads the nation in strikeouts (181) and is tied for the national lead in strikeouts looking (42). As a team, State's whiff rate (36.8 percent) and called strike plus whiff rate (37.3 percent) also lead the nation. MSU is one of four teams nationally allowing 1.50 runs per game or less this year.

Pitching Points: The Bulldogs are the only team with multiple pitchers among the top 10 nationally in fielding independent pitching. Alyssa Faircloth is sixth (0.88), while Peja Goold is eighth (0.98) and Leila Ammon is 10^th (1.16).

Dingers By The Dozen: A school-record 12 different players have already homered this season, and the Bulldogs are currently on pace for a school-record 78 home runs in the regular season alone this year.

Starts With Stiles: Morgan Stiles has reached base to open the MSU half of the first inning in 14 of 20 games and has scored in the first inning 10 times this year, accounting for a third of State's runs in that frame as the Bulldogs outscore opponents 30-3 in the first.

KI Is Killing It: Kiara Sells leads the team with 18 RBIs and is riding a season-long eight-game hitting streak that has seen her record an extra-base hit in seven of those games.

Mercy Please: State won three of four games at last week's Tiger Invitational by run rule. The Bulldogs have eight run-rule wins this year, and 37 since the start of 2024 while posting the top two single-season totals in school history over the last two years.

On A Roll: Kiara Sells and Morgan Bernardini have hits in eight straight games. Sells in batting .636 with a 1.940 OPS during her streak, while Bernardini is hitting .524. Des Rivera is batting .526 over her own seven-game hitting streak, which is only one shy of her career long. Those three have combined for 25 RBIs during their respective streaks.

About UAB (11-9, 0-0 AAC)

Series History

Notables

The Blazers' defense ranks fourth in the AAC with a .975 fielding percentage, and UAB is No. 17 nationally with 10 double plays turned this year. UAB went 4-1 at the Garnet & Black Invitational, including a pair of wins over both Queens and Marist. The Blazers led South Carolina in the sixth inning, but ultimately lost to the Gamecocks, 3-2. Hannah Dorsett received the first American Conference Weekly Honors of the season for UAB on Monday, being named a Honorable Mention following a .500 (11-for-22) week. Freshman Charlee Bennett leads the team in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

On Deck

Mississippi State will conclude its longest road stretch of the season when the Bulldogs head to Mobile, Alabama, to compete in the Jaguar Classic this weekend. State will square off against New Mexico, Samford and South Alabama, playing two games on both Friday and Saturday and one game on Sunday.

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