Mississippi State embarks on its 79th season of Southeastern Conference baseball this weekend taking on No. 2 LSU.

The eight-ranked Bulldogs went 18-2 during the early portion of the schedule and will contend with the defending SEC Champions at Dudy Noble Field for a three-game series this weekend.

The Tigers have won 10-straight games and enter the series with a 16-1 record. The two teams met five times last season with MSU winning three of those matchups. Four of the games were decided by one run with two taking extra innings to decide the winner.

"We have a great challenge in front of us this weekend," said MSU skipper John Cohen. "LSU is a great club with great front end pitching. They have a very solid lineup and are really playing good defensively. I think we're going to have some great SEC baseball over the weekend."

The Diamond Dogs received some encouraging news on Tuesday as sophomore pitcher Jacob Lindgren had a successful bullpen session. The Friday night starter for State was struck by a line drive on the knee on the second hitter of last week's outing against Central Arkansas.

Lindgren had to leave the game and remained on crutches the rest of the weekend. However an MRI came back negative and the southpaw is expected to be back on the mound tonight.

"We're very optimistic that he's going to be able to take the mound on Friday," Cohen said.



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