Mississippi's big 3 baseball programs host final non-conference weekend series

The Southern Miss, Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball teams will play their final non-conference weekend series starting on Friday.

Mississippi State (9-3-1) prepares for a tough series against an Oregon team that is 8-2 and expected to compete for a Pac-12 title.

Southern Miss will host a Samford squad that is 8-5 with a solid RPI ranking of No. 44. USM (11-3) sits at No. 13 in RPI according to WarrenNolan.com after splitting a mid-week series with Southeastern Louisiana.

Ole Miss (12-1) should have the easiest time of it this weekend against SWAC program Grambling State, which is 4-6.

Ole Miss is ranked No. 15 this week in the NCBWA Top 30 while Mississippi State comes in at No. 20. The Golden Eagles were among the teams receiving votes.

Projected pitching match-ups:

Southern Miss

n 6 p.m., Friday - USM RHP Cord Cockrell (2-0, 1.42) vs. Samford RHP Jared Brasher (1-2, 0.00)

n 2 p.m., Saturday - USM RHP Jake Winston (2-0, 2.12) vs. Samford RHP Tristan Widra (2-0, 1.80)

n 1 p.m., Sunday - USM LHP Kirk McCarty (1-0, 3.45) vs. Samford RHP Connor Radcliff (1-2, 7.82)

Ole Miss

n 6:30 p.m., Friday - OM RHP Brady Bramlett (3-0, 2.81) vs. TBA

n 1:30 p.m., Saturday - OM RHP Chad Smith (1-1, 4.02) vs. TBA

n 1:30 p.m., Sunday - OM RHP Sean Johnson (3-0, 2.20) vs. TBA

Mississippi State

n 6:30 p.m., Friday - MSU RHP Dakota Hudson (1-1, 1.50) vs. Oregon LHP Cole Irvin (2-0, 0.82)

n 3 p.m., Saturday - MSU RHP Austin Sexton (1-1 4.91) vs. Oregon LHP Matt Krook (0-0, 1.59)

n 10:30 a.m., Sunday - TBA vs. Oregon LHP David Peterson (2-0, 0.45)

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Mississippi's big 3 baseball programs host final non-conference weekend series ."