For the first time as conference members, the Mississippi State Bulldogs would head west starting on Friday for a three-game set with the 10th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners as the Bulldogs looked to welcome the Sooners to the SEC with a massive first win of the series.

Following last week’s debacle, when the Bulldogs were swept at home by the Texas Longhorns, Mississippi State needed momentum to calm the fan base’s nerves heading into the weekend with a legitimate College World Series contender in the Sooners of Oklahoma. A win on Friday night would calm some nerves, allowing the Bulldogs to play with house money on Saturday and Sunday as the opposing team with the home squad on the ropes.

Friday night for Mississippi State means one thing: the man himself, Pico Kohn, is on the mound for the Bulldogs in game one of the series. Pico gave the Bulldogs six complete innings of two-hit baseball, striking out ten Oklahoma batters and giving up zero runs. Pico gave the Bulldogs an unreal performance on Friday night, giving them a cushion to rest their arms for the remainder of the series. Mississippi State would go with Stone Simmons in the 7th for some relief action; Simmons finished his inning with one hit, one run, and one strikeout. From there, Luke Dotson came in to pitch in the 8th inning; Dotson gave the Bulldogs two solid innings of pitching, striking out three Sooners batters to bring the combined total of strikeouts on the night to fourteen.

There was not a lot of offensive firepower on Friday night for the Bulldogs, but two runs were all the Bulldogs needed to secure the first game of the three-game series over the Sooners on Friday night. Mississippi State has been Jekyll and Hyde with the bats all season; they’ll likely need a few more runs on Saturday if they want to take a massive road series over Oklahoma.

With the win, Mississippi State improves to 15-7.

Saturday’s game two will start at 4:00 with a television audience on the SEC Network Plus.