BULLDOG BITS

Men’s Golf

STATESBORO, Ga. – No. 24 Mississippi State ended the second round of the 43rd Schenkel Invitational in second place, 11 strokes behind the leader and host No. 19 Georgia Southern.

State matched its round one team total of 18 birdies and added two eagles. The Bulldogs shot the best second round of the field, shooting 8-under 280, and four different players shot under par for the day.

Hunter Logan finished the day in a tie for fourth just four strokes back from the leader Georgia Southern's Ben Carr. He carded a bogey-free front nine and is shooting 4-under through 36 holes.

Ruan Pretorius jumped into the top 10 after the second round, sitting in a four-way tie for ninth. He shot 71 for the day, totaling five birdies and shooting 2-under going into the final 18.

Garrett Endicott and Ford Clegg both made jumps into a tie for 13th with six other players. Endicott carded a 68 to record his fifth round in the 60s in seven career tournaments. He sank four birdies and eagled his first hole of the round.

Clegg shot 70 with a bogey-free front nine and three birdies for the day.

Austin Vukovits carded three birdies and an eagle on his final hole of the round to finish with a 71. He made the second-largest jump on the team, moving up 19 spots to a tie for 41st. Pedro Cruz Silva made three birdies and finished the day tied for 60th.

Vukovits will tee off for the final round at 9 a.m. from the No. 1 tee followed by Clegg, Endicott, Pretorius and Logan in 9-minute increments. Cruz Silva will tee off at 7:57 a.m. from the No. 10 tee.

Men’s Tennis

No. 14 Mississippi State will be vying for its fourth top 20 victory of the season when it hosts second-ranked South Carolina at noon today.

The Bulldogs have already knocked off a pair of teams that were ranked 15th in Florida State and Auburn as well as then 19th-ranked Florida. Today's match against the Gamecocks is scheduled to be played at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre but could be moved inside the adjacent Rula Tennis Pavilion due to inclement weather.

State enters the match with a 14-3 overall record and a 2-2 mark in Southeastern Conference play. The Bulldogs split a Saturday doubleheader during their last time out last weekend, falling 4-2 to now 27th-ranked Texas A&M before beating Belmont 6-1.

Carles Hernandez enters today's match ranked 89th in the country in the latest ITA poll. He has won his last 13 out of 15 singles matches and currently holds a sparkling 13-2 dual match record and is 4-0 in SEC play.

No. 125 Nemanja Malesevic tops the team with five wins over ranked opponents and is tied for the team lead with Ewen Lumsden having clinched four matches for the Bulldogs. Lumsden has won 11 of his last 13 matches.