College World Series 2019: Thursday's Schedule, Bracket Predictions, Start Times
June 19, 2019
Louisville has the chance to eliminate an SEC team for the second straight day Thursday at the 2019 College World Series.
The Cardinals remained in the tournament Wednesday by completing a 5-3 win over Auburn to move to 1-1 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Next up for the Cardinals is another SEC foe in the form of Mississippi State, who fell to Vanderbilt Wednesday afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park.
The winner of Thursday's contest will earn a rematch with Vanderbilt Friday in the semifinal round.
College World Series Thursday Schedule
Louisville vs. Mississippi State
Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: Watch ESPN or ESPN app
Prediction
Mississippi State 8, Louisville 6
Before Wednesday, Mississippi State had not suffered a defeat in the NCAA tournament.
Now the Bulldogs have their backs up against the wall on short rest against a Louisville team that has momentum from an elimination game win and a tad more rest after finishing up early Wednesday.
However, Mississippi State is a team that has thrived in adversity for the majority of the season, as it has 28 come-from-behind wins.
Even if the Bulldogs face an early hole, they will not be fazed by the moment, and they have the hitters to pull them out of a rut at any time.
Mississippi State's order is led by Jake Mangum, who on Wednesday moved to first place in the NCAA in hits with 107.
Even though the Bulldogs came up short against Vanderbilt Wednesday, they still produced three runs in the sixth and seventh innings and had seven members of their batting order reach base with a hit.
What makes Mississippi State so tough to deal with from an opponent's perspective is its depth at the plate.
Six players that had more than 100 at-bats had a batting average over .300, while Justin Foscue and Dustin Skelton have provided the power out of the middle of the order with 24 combined home runs.
Foscue and Skelton were the only two Mississippi State players that did not record a hit Wednesday, so between that and trying to keep their season alive, they should have plenty of motivation to rebound right away.
Louisville possesses its share of impressive hitters as well, as it stormed through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament with nine or more runs scored in four games.
Lucas Dunn and Logan Wyatt both had strong seasons at the top of the order, but the pair was held to one hit by Auburn Wednesday.
Just like Mississippi State with its power hitters, Louisville needs to get its leadoff men going in order to have success Thursday.
The combination of both lineups boasting impressive corps of hitters and the fatigue of each pitching staff should lead to plenty of runs scored.
Since weather pushed games to Wednesday, Louisville and Mississippi State might have to use pitchers on little to no rest.
Louisville used Adam Elliott and Michael McAvene for two innings each to stay alive against Auburn, while Keegan James ate up 3.2 innings in relief for Mississippi State.
Since Mississippi State has a slight edge when it comes to bullpen freshness, we are leaning in its direction to extend its trip in Omaha and set up a third postseason meeting with Vanderbilt.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from D1Baseball.com.