SCHEDULED GAME TIME

Saturday, 6 p.m. at Baum-Walker Stadium (11,531) in Fayetteville

RECORDS 

Arkansas 41-9, 18-7 SEC

Mississippi State 32-17, 14-11 SEC

STREAKS

Arkansas won 1

Mississippi State lost 2

LAST 10 GAMES

Arkansas 7-3

Mississippi State 7-3

COACHES 

Arkansas: Dave Van Horn — 880-450 in 22nd season at Arkansas and 1,200-607 in 30th season overall in Division I. 

Mississippi State: Chris Lemonis — 199-110 in sixth season at Mississippi State and 340-201-2 in 10th season overall.

SERIES HISTORY

Arkansas leads 60-57, including 28-19 in Fayetteville. 

LAST MEETING

Arkansas defeated Mississippi State 7-5 on Friday in Fayetteville. 

TELEVISION 

The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and can be accessed on WatchESPN.com and via the ESPN app (carrier login required). Brett Dolan (play-by-play) and Troy Eklund (analyst) will be on the call.

RADIO 

Phil Elson (play-by-play) and Bubba Carpenter (analyst) will call the game on the Razorback Sports Network, which can be accessed through local FM and AM affiliates, via the Arkansas Razorbacks Gameday app, via the Varsity Network app or on ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Blackouts may apply.

STARTING PITCHERS

Arkansas: RHP Brady Tygart — 4-2, 3.34 ERA, 1.27 WHIP in 56 2/3 innings.

Mississippi State: BHP Jurrangelo Cijntje — 7-1, 3.53 ERA, 1.13 WHIP in 66 1/3 innings. 

TEAM COMPARISONS

Earned Run Avg.: Arkansas 3.35; Mississippi State 4.23

Runs Per Game: Arkansas 6.80; Mississippi State 7.08

Batting Avg.: Arkansas .271; Mississippi State .284

Opp. Batting Avg.: Arkansas .207; Mississippi State .233

Slugging Pct.: Arkansas .444; Mississippi State .446

On-Base Pct.: Arkansas .389; Mississippi State .396

Fielding Pct.: Arkansas .982; Mississippi State .982

FORECAST

According to the National Weather Service, Saturday will be clear with a high of 79 degrees and a low of 56 in Fayetteville. Northwest winds will become calm.

WHAT TO KNOW

• Arkansas has a two-game lead over Texas A&M and a four-game lead over Mississippi State in the SEC West standings. The Razorbacks are one game behind Kentucky and tied with Tennessee for second place in the overall SEC race. 

• Arkansas is ranked third and Mississippi State is ranked 15th in the USA Today Baseball Coaches Poll. 

• The Razorbacks were predicted to win the SEC and the Bulldogs were predicted to finish last in the SEC West by league coaches. 

• Arkansas has a 32-2 record at Baum-Walker Stadium. Mississippi State is 7-8 on the road and 10-9 in all games away from home.

• Since losing a series at Ole Miss in mid-April, Mississippi State has won 8 of 11 games against SEC competition, including a midweek game against Ole Miss at a neutral site that did not count against either team’s conference record. 

• Arkansas has won its last four series against Mississippi State with three sweeps. The Bulldogs have not won a series in Fayetteville since 2007. 

• The Razorbacks and the Bulldogs rank first and second, respectively, in the SEC in team ERA. 

• Mississippi State right fielder Dakota Jordan is an All-America candidate who entered the series batting .367 with an OPS of 1.201. Jordan has 16 home runs, 11 doubles and 56 RBI, and earlier this week was named a finalist for the Ferriss Trophy that goes to the best college baseball player in Mississippi. 

• Arkansas right fielder Kendall Diggs (shoulder) did not start Friday’s game but entered as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. Diggs has played through an injury to his left shoulder since March 9 and appeared to aggravate the injury during the Razorbacks’ finale at Kentucky last weekend.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas baseball returns to Baum-Walker Stadium this weekend for a top-15 showdown against Mississippi State.

The No. 3 Razorbacks (40-9, 17-7 SEC) sit one game ahead of Texas A&M in the SEC West standings and will face the Aggies next week in the final series of the regular season. Arkansas dropped two-of-three games last weekend against Kentucky.

More: Arkansas baseball sticking with same weekend pitching rotation against Mississippi State

More: Arkansas baseball vs. Mississippi State: Scouting report, prediction for top 15 showdown

The No. 15 Bulldogs (32-16, 14-10) are 10-2 in their last 12 games and have won back-to-back SEC series against Vanderbilt and Alabama. Mississippi State is hot, but Arkansas has lost just one home SEC game all season.

Below is a look at the the weekend schedule, probable pitchers and live updates from the Hogs home series against the Bulldogs.

Arkansas baseball vs. Mississippi State schedule

• Game 1: Friday, May 10, 6:30 p.m. CT, SECN+
• Game 2: Saturday, May 11, 6 p.m. CT, SECN+
• Game 3: Sunday, May 12, 2 p.m., SEC Network

Arkansas baseball vs. Mississippi State: Probable pitchers

Arkansas pitchers listed first.

• Game 1: LHP Hagen Smith (9-0, 1.36 ERA) vs RHP Khal Stephen (7-3, 2.96)
• Game 2: RHP Brady Tygart (4-2, 3.34) vs BHP Jurrangelo Cijntje (7-1, 3.53)
• Game 3: LHP Mason Molina (3-2, 3.81) vs TBA

Arkansas baseball vs. Mississippi State: Live score updates

A running live blog will begin closer to first pitch Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

Mississippi officially has a new funding formula for K-12 public education.

Republican Governor Tate Reeves’ signature on House Bill 4130, or the Mississippi School Funding Formula, has enshrined a new mechanism to determine how to allocate money to public school districts statewide, doing away with the oft-criticized Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP).

In his first term as House Speaker, Republican Jason White was adamant that the legislature would not be funding MAEP this session and was deadset on implementing a new formula — one that was geared toward the specific needs of students. That effort was met with resistance in the Senate with leaders in the chamber seeking to keep MAEP, which had only been funded three times since its implementation in 1997, intact but with modifications.

After months of infighting between the two chambers and multiple attempts to usurp one another through the legislative process, the House stuck to its guns in persistently pushing its proposal, initially tabbed the INSPIRE Act, and refusing to budge on any plans to keep MAEP afloat.

The Senate ultimately acquiesced to its cross-chamber counterpart on the stipulation that the House change the title of the formula and that a couple of tweaks to the legislation were made, including upping the base cost dedicated to each student.

After the edits were made, the Mississippi Student Funding Formula flew through its originating chamber with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents unanimously agreeing. Following the Senate committee’s decision, the full floor took a vote with only three dissenting votes. Reeves, a proponent of the House’s plan, then followed through with his support by signing the bill into law on Wednesday.

The Mississippi Student Funding Formula provides a minimal base student cost of $6,695 with more money being allocated per pupil based on the number of students coming from low-income households, ones that are English language learners, ones who have special needs, and other factors intended to up the funding for districts with the largest needs. The new funding, unlike MAEP, is also not nearly as complicated to understand, per the House speaker.

“I could bring an iPad up here and I can say, ‘How do you want to tweak this? You want to put more emphasis on low income? You want to put more emphasis on special education? You want to put more emphasis on workforce development? Here are the weights.’ You can tweak them any way you want, plus in the base student costs, and it gives you a number,” White touted. “It’s very easy to understand.”

The new formula will be recalculated every four years with lawmakers believing different mechanisms within will hold them more accountable to fully funding on a regular basis. It will go into effect on July 1.