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Top 10 instate match up on the way between Mississippi State and Southern Miss

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk03/03/26RobbieFaulkOn3

Fresh off a heartbreaking loss against No. 1 UCLA over the weekend, Mississippi State has no time to dwell as another top 10 matchup awaits.  

State (11-1) is set for its first true road test of the season as the No. 4 Diamond Dawgs head to Hattiesburg to take on instate foe No. 10 Southern Miss (10-1). The 6 p.m. first pitch can be seen on ESPN+.  

For the Bulldogs, it will be transfer right hander Brendan Sweeney taking the mound for his first start with State. The 6’7, 210-pound senior transfer from South Carolina has already been one of the more reliable relievers for the Bulldogs this year, but now he gets a chance to test himself against a top 10 team.  

Sweeney has pitched in each of the first three weekends and has been strong out of the bullpen. In 7.1 frames, the big righty has a 1.23 ERA as he’s surrendered just one run on four hits with one walk and nine strikeouts. The one run came on a ninth-inning solo home run in his first appearance. Prior to that home run, he had thrown 3.1 scoreless innings with one hit and five strikeouts. He just fiished up 1.2 innings against Virginia in Arlington in which he allowed one hit and struck out three.  

Prior to State, Sweeney played junior college baseball for Eastern Oklahoma State and for Blinn College. He started in 24 games over the course of two seasons with 107 strikeouts. HIs year at Blinn was especially strong as he helped the team to a NJCAA national championship with an 8-2 record and three complete games.  

Last season, Sweeney pitched in 23 games for South Carolina and led the Gamecocks with six saves, including one against the Bulldogs where he struck out four batters in 3.0 innings without allowing a hit or a run. He struck out 34 batters last year in 25.1 innings.  

Sweeney will be countered by a player on the opposite end of his career as South Jones High School product Dylan Causey will take the mound. Causey has thrown in four games with one start. He’s only thrown 3.0 innings with two hits, two unearned runs, no walks and two strikeouts.  

Head coach Christian Ostrander is likely to have a bevy of arms to throw out at the Bulldogs on Tuesday and his staff is off to another great start with a 2.53 staff ERA, 117 strikeouts to just 36 walks in 96.0 innings.  

The Golden Eagles are off to an impressive start. After losing the first game of the season 5-1 to UC Santa Barbara, USM has won 10-straight games. They went to the Round Rock Classic and beat Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor, run-ruled Alabama last week 14-4 in eight innings and then swept Louisiana Tech in a three-game set in Ruston.  

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs won the first 11 games of the season and had a 5-3 lead on No. 1 UCLA with two outs in the ninth before hitting a batter and giving up a two-run home run. State had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t score, and the Bruins would take a lead in extra innings before surviving 8-7. State will try to rectify that loss with a really tough road win on Tuesday.  

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