SEC Baseball: A Preview of Each SEC Team’s Super Regional
Mississippi State
Mississippi State may benefit from having home field advantage more than any other team hosting a super regional. Dudy Noble Field is known as one of the toughest places to play in the SEC. They are playing host to Arizona who surprised a lot of people by coming out of the La. Lafayette Regional by playing their way out of the loser’s bracket and eventually beating La. Lafayette in back to back games.
Dakota Hudson is slated to take the mound in game 1 against the Wildcats. If he is on his A game, then Arizona will be in trouble. The good news for Arizona is that Hudson hasnt looked his usual self lately. He gave up 4 earned runs and was pulled after just 3.1 innings pitched against Southeast Missouri State in the opening game of the Starkville Regional. Adding to that, he was just drafted 34th overall by the St. Louis Cardinals, and between some poor outings and getting drafted, I can see Hudson’s mind not being in the right place.
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That being said, even if Hudson drops game 1, Mississippi State’s pitching staff has a 2.00 ERA through the round of regionals, and I believe they can pick up any let down from Dakota Hudson to come back from a 1-0 deficit in the series. But, if you are looking for the glass half full approach, maybe Hudson had the draft on his mind, and now he is thinking clearly. If thats is true and Hudson dominates, Mississippi State will win game 1. I could very easily see them taking game 2 to bring this series to an early close. 5dimes currently has them has a -270 favorite, and I think that it is worth the gamble. If it weren’t for Dakota Hudson’s recent struggles, I think they’d be at least -350 to win the series.