CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College baseball team returns to the diamond this weekend as it hosts McKendree (Ill.) University in a three-game series. MC opens play against the Bearcats with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. First pitch on Monday, Feb. 19 is slated for 12 p.m.
Live stats will be available for all three games of the series with Sunday's twinbill will be broadcasted.
STORYLINE AND NOTES
- Mississippi College prepares to face its second opponent from the Great Lakes Valley Conference this weekend as it welcomes McKendree University to Frierson Field at Dickins-Scoper Stadium. MC faced Missouri S&T last weekend taking a pair of wins from the Miners.
- Hunter Sykes and Kyle Smith each posted .500 clips at the dish against the Miners. The duo each recorded four hits while Sykes drove in three while Smith pushed one across the dish.
- Brandon Kennedy andn Shelby Craddock picked up the wins on the mound for the Navy and Gold. Kennedy fanned three in 2.2 innings of relief work while Craddock tossed two frames with a pair of strikeouts along with a run and hit allowed. Hunter Mullis recorded a team-best seven strikeouts in his start in the nightcap.
- Kyle Smith leads MC at the dish this season as the senior is batting .550 with 11 hits, including six doubles. The Petal, Miss., native is in the top three in the Gulf South Conference in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits and doubles.
- Hunter Mullis leads the team with 11 strikeouts in two starts. Mullis has tossed 8.2 innings this season.
- Through the first two weekends of play, the Choctaws have logged 16 multiple hit performances and 13 multi-RBI efforts. Hunter Wilson holds a season-best four-hit outing while Kyle Smith holds a three-RBI effort.
- McKendree was selected sixth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division as selected the conference's 15 head coaches in the preseason poll.
- Second-year head coach Danny Jackson returns just four position players from the 2017 season and has infused the Bearcats with a heavy dose of newcomers for the 2018 season. McKendree has 30 players entering their first season with the Bearcats' program this season.
