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Tennessee baseball series preview at Mississippi State: Live stream, game times, TV and radio info

By Caleb Calhoun

Mississippi State breaks in the new Dudy Noble Field with a three-game series against Youngstown State this weekend.Dudy Noble Field
Mississippi State breaks in the new Dudy Noble Field with a three-game series against Youngstown State this weekend.Dudy Noble Field /
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Talk about a way to end the regular season. It’s the current No. 1 team in the nation against the defending national champions. Tennessee baseball visits the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the final regular season series of the year for both teams.

Ranked No. 1 across all services, Tony Vitello’s program is coming off winning two of three last weekend against the Georgia Bulldogs and blowing out the Belmont Bruins 18-0 Tuesday in their regular season home finale. They have already clinched the SEC regular season championship.

Meanwhile, led by fourth-year head coach Chris Lemonis, Mississippi State comes in off a 14-4 win over the North Alabama Lions, but that broke a nine-game losing streak. Here is all the information you need for Tennessee baseball’s matchup.

Broadcast information

Rocky Top is projected to start Chase Dollander Thursday, Chase Burns Friday and Drew Beam Saturday. MSU, meanwhile, is projected to start Brandon Smith Thursday, Preston Johnson Friday and Cade Smith Saturday.

It’s been a major drop-off for MSU after winning the national title last year. They have been swept by their last two SEC teams, the Texas A&M Aggies last weekend and the Florida Gators the weekend before. The last series they won was back in mid-April against the Auburn Tigers.

This weekend is crucial for them, as they need to leapfrog either the Alabama Crimson Tide or Kentucky Wildcats to get into the SEC Tournament. They are one game behind UK and a game and a half behind Bama, so everything goes into this weekend.

On the other side, the Vols could pretty much take the weekend off and experiment with things. This series does nothing for them except potentially help clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the No. 1 overall seed hasn’t won it since 1999, so that’s not important.

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That might be what gives MSU the chance it needs. After this weekend, SEC Tournament play begins Tuesday, May 24. Tennessee baseball won’t play until Wednesday, but if the Bulldogs do squeak in after this weekend, they’ll start play that Tuesday.

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