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Mississippi State Keeps Rotation Steady as Texas A&M Shuffles Staff

Mississippi State’s pitching plan looks much clearer than Texas A&M’s heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State Pitcher Tomas Valincius (#4) during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS.
Mississippi State Pitcher Tomas Valincius (#4) during the game between the Auburn Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium in Starkville, MS. | Mississippi State Athletics

No. 13 Mississippi State faces a critical series in its final weekend of the regular season and will be sending out the same starting rotation as last weekend.

The Bulldogs’ opponent, No. 10 Texas A&M, can’t say the same thing.

Mississippi State will send Tomas Valincius to the mound first on Thursday and Duke Stone the next day. The starter for Saturday’s series finale wasn’t announced.

If the Bulldogs repeat the same rotation as last weekend, that final starter will be Ryan McPherson.

McPherson made his return to action after a seven-week absence last Sunday against Auburn. He threw only 34 pitches in the game before leaving after a stumble backing up home plate. However, it’s likely Mississippi State will wait to see how the first two games play out before deciding about Saturday.

Texas A&M is making some significant changes to its starting rotation.

The only announced starter for the weekend series Ethan Darden, who made his first start of the season last week at Ole Miss. The Aggies will also be without their best pitcher, Aiden Sims.

““Sims will not start this weekend,” Texas A&M coach Michael Earley said. “He had some tightness, and we just think he needs some rest. We need some rest so we get him full go for the postseason. So Sims will not make his start this weekend just due to, he’s tight, and we need to make sure he’s ready to go for the long haul.”

Compounding the problem for the Aggies is there aren’t a lot of reliable options to send to the mound.

Shane Sdao opened the year as the Game 1 guy, but the left‑hander never really found his footing and moved into a bullpen role last week when Darden took over. Even so, he gave Texas A&M something to work with on Friday. He went 4.1 innings in relief and allowed two runs on four hits with two walks, a wild pitch and a balk.

That outing at least puts him in the conversation for Saturday, though the Aggies may decide he’s more valuable staying in that relief spot.

Weston Moss has handled the Game 3 job for the last six weekends. The right‑hander started the season in the Game 2 role before running into trouble and getting bumped for Sims.

His most recent outing didn’t help his case. He lasted only three innings on Saturday and gave up five runs on six hits with a walk and a hit batter.

At this point in the season, that amount of uncertainty in the starting rotation isn’t what Texas A&M fans want to see.

But it’s music to Mississippi State fans’ ears.

Mississippi State Starting Pitchers

Thursday: Tomas Valincius, LHP

  • Season stats: 8-2, 2.52 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 75 IP, 58 H, 27 R, 21 ER, 16 BB, 105 SO, .209 Opp. BA

Friday: Duke Stone, RHP

  • Season stats: 6-1, 4.65 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 62 IP, 65 H, 35 R, 32 ER, 24 BB, 85 SO, .269 Opp. BA

Saturday: TBA

  • Season stats: n/a

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Ben Davis: 0-2, 3.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 5 SV, 37.1 IP, 32 H, 17 R, 16 ER, 8 BB, 47 SO, .230 Opp. BA
  • Maddox Webb: 1-1, 3.86 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 3 SV, 23.1 IP, 21 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 15 BB, 28 SO, .233 Opp. BA
  • Dane Burns: 2-0, 2.61 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 20.2 IP, 19 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 8 BB, 29 SO, .229 Opp. BA
  • Tyler Pitzer: 2-2, 3.10 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 1 SV, 20.1 IP, 15 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 10 BB, 26 SO, .205 Opp. BA
  • Brendan Sweeney: 0-0, 5.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 1 SV, 20 IP, 21 H, 14 R, 13 ER, 6 BB, 22 SO, .269 Opp. BA

Texas A&M Starting Pitchers

Thursday: Ethan Darden, LHP

  • Season stats: 4-1, 3.33 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 27 IP, 23 H, 11 R, 1- ER, 12 BB, 20 SO, .235 Opp. BA

Friday: TBA

  • Season stats: n/a

Saturday: TBA

  • Season stats: n/a

Notable Relief Pitchers

  • Clayton Freshcorn: 2-2, 2.27 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 39.2 IP, 37 H, 11 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 44 SO, .245 Opp. BA
  • Josh Stewart: 5-0, 1.42 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO, .227 Opp. BA
  • Grant Cunningham: 4-1, 6.75 ERA, 1.72 WHIP, 32 IP, 46 H, 25 R, 24 ER, 9 BB, 29 SO, .338 Opp. BA
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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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