Mississippi State hosts the Evansville Purple Aces for a three game series this weekend at Dudy Noble Field.

Evansville is led by head coach Wes Carroll who is in 15th year with the program. He has compiled a 396-413 overall record in his tenure. The Purple Aces compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. Mississippi State will not be Evansville's first taste of the SEC this season as they have already faced off against Vanderbilt in a midweek. They lost that game 7-3 in Nashville.

The program is coming off a very successful 2023 campaign. The Purple Aces finished 37-24 overall and 15-12 in conference play. The team finished as the MVC tournament runner ups where they lost to eventual regional host Indiana State.

Evansville enters the weekend with a 7-5 overall record and rank 140th in the RPI. The Purple Aces are coming off a 4 game weekend tilt with Purdue Fort Wayne where they took 3 of 4 games. They also have notched a series win over Oral Roberts but dropped a series to New Orleans.

This Evansville squad has one of the more high octane offenses in all of college baseball. They rank top 15 in the nation in hits (6th-152), doubles (2nd-41), batting average (9th-.345), on-base percentage (13th-.454) and scoring (13th-10.4 runs per game). The Purple Aces have scored 7 or more runs in all but 3 of their games so far.

The high powered offense is led by graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger. The St. Louis native leads the team and the MVC with a .447 batting average. He has compiled 29 hits and a whopping 7 HBP's in 47 plate appearances.

Also joining Shallenberger in the above .400 club are senior shortstop (.405) and junior second baseman Cal McGinnis (.404). Scherry is also a perfect 6-6 on stolen bases so far this year. Cal McGinnis enters his second year with the UE program after transferring from Bradley. Expect McGinnis to play some small ball as he led the MVC in sacrifice bunts a year ago.

The rotation for Evansville is expected to be RHP Nick Smith (0-1, 8.71 ERA), LHP Donovan Schultz (0-0, 10.95 ERA), LHP Kenton Deverman (2-0, 2.55 ERA). Freshman Kenton Deverman has been the Purple Aces' most consistent pitcher so far this year. He has made 3 appearances but only 1 start. The southpaw has posted a 1.08 WHIP in 17.2 innings pitched.

All three games of the series will be streamed on SECN+ starting Friday at 6:00. Rain is in the forecast all day Friday which could change up the schedule.