Utah Valley at No. 21 Mississippi State
Friday, March 9 (DH)  |  2 p.m. MT
Sunday, March 11  |  noon MT
Dudy Noble Field  |  Starkville, Miss. 
TV: SEC Network/Watch ESPN




QUICK HITS

• Utah Valley (4-7) travels to No. 21 Mississippi State (8-5) for a three-game series beginning Friday with a doubleheader slated to begin at 3 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MT. The series concludes with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT/noon MT.
   
• The doubleheader on Friday is a change from the original schedule, with rain in the forecast on Saturday. The teams will take Saturday off due to the expected storm.
   
• The series marks just the second time a Utah Valley team will play an SEC program. The first was at LSU in the 2016 Baton Rouge Regional. This is the first time UVU will play a series against an SEC school.
   
• The Wolverines dropped three of four at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend, winning the opener before suffering three straight losses.
   
• Jake Mayer matched his career high in strikeouts for the second straight start and the third time in his career, with eight in Friday's opener at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Mayer has settled into his role as the Friday starter well, having logged three straight quality starts to begin the season.
   
• The Wolverines are in the midst of 18 straight road games to begin the season. The first home game is scheduled for Friday, March 23 in the WAC opener against Northern Colorado.
   
• Next week, UVU travels plays its first midweek game, at BYU on Tuesday in Provo before traveling to UC Irvine for a weekend series. ]
   

Mississippi State  is coming of a two-game midweek sweep of WAC school New Mexico State. The Bulldogs won 9-1 on Tuesday and 6-0 on Wednesday. MSU has won five straight overall. The early-season scheduled included a game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a game the Bulldogs dropped 6-3. 

Game one starter Konnor Pilkington and outfielder Jake Mangum are both among the top prospects in the country. Pilkington is ranked No. 30 in the D1Baseball.com's Top 100 list while Mangum is 75th. Pilkington is 1-1 with 1.69 ERA and has struck out 23 batters against just one walk in 16.0 innings so far this season. Mangum is batting a team-best .407 with three doubles and a triple.