Mississippi State Baseball: Giant-Killer Bulldogs Wreaking Havoc in SEC Tourney

No. 21 Mississippi State already shocked the SEC baseball world once this weekend, and they did it once again Saturday afternoon in Hoover, Ala.

The Bulldogs got past No. 12 Kentucky by the score of 2-1 Saturday afternoon in a war of pitching to advance to the SEC Tournament final. It was just a day after they eliminated No. 5 LSU, the regular-season conference champion and tournament favorite.

They'll move on to face the winner of Vanderbilt and No. 2 Florida in the championship, which is set to air on ESPN2 Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. 

Mississippi State was light on fresh pitchers for Saturday's game after playing eight games in the last 10 days, five of which were against Kentucky. But the pitchers they did have got it done as Luis Pollorena, Ben Bracewell and Nick Rout combined for one earned run, and closer Jonathan Holder preserved the one-run lead to knock Kentucky out of the tournament. 

They're heading to the title match for the first time since winning it in 2005. 

The Bulldogs were peaking at the right time heading into the tournament after a three-game sweep of the Wildcats to close out the regular season. They lit up the Cats for 18 runs total in the three wins.

The win also exorcised any demons they had from earlier in the tourney. Their only loss of the double-elimination event came against Kentucky in a 5-1 defeat on Thursday.

Despite allowing just three runs in three games, the Wildcats were knocked out in the SEC Tournament semifinals and denied a chance to the tournament's final for the first time since 1981.

Tired legs could be a factor for the giant-killers Sunday. The title game will be their sixth game in as many days. 

No matter how much of underdogs these Bulldogs might be heading into the SEC Tournament Championship game Sunday, they won't be scared after the work they've done already this weekend.