Three days after dispatching one in-state rival, Mississippi State will turn its attention to another.

The red-hot Bulldogs will welcome rival Ole Miss to Dudy Noble Field for a three-game series starting Friday night. It’s a series not only for state bragging rights, but a key one in the Southeastern Conference series as well.

Mississippi State (18-7-1, 4-2 SEC) won its first two SEC series and is in a three-way tie for first place in the West Division with Alabama and Texas A&M.

Ole Miss (20-5, 2-4), meanwhile, was swept by South Carolina last weekend. Even though it’s early in the season, the Rebels need a series victory to keep from falling far behind the division leaders.

Ole Miss has won the past three series against Mississippi State, with five of the last six in Starkville. Last season in Oxford, Ole Miss swept the series by winning two of the three games in their last at-bat. It was part of a late-season stretch in which Mississippi State lost 18 of its last 21 games, and its last six in a row overall.

That sweep left a bitter taste among the MSU players, but they’ve erased a lot of it with a strong first half of the 2016 season.

“This year is a lot different than last year,” said Mississippi State pitcher Austin Sexton, who is scheduled to start on Saturday. “I think we’re all looking forward to this weekend. But at the same time, winning this series or a series against Mizzou, Oregon or anyone else in general is just a big deal.”

In terms of offense, the two teams are coming into this series from opposite directions.

Ole Miss scored a total of six runs in three games against South Carolina, while Mississippi State has scored at least six runs in six of its last seven games.

While stars like Reid Humphreys (.338, three home runs, 21 RBIs), leadoff man Jacob Robson (.379, 30 runs scored) and Jack Kruger (.364, three home runs, 23 RBIs) have powered the Bulldogs for much of the season, freshman catcher Elih Marrero has been a big part of their recent offensive surge.

In his last five games, Marrero is hitting .769 (10-for-13) with three RBIs and seven runs scored. He was 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored in a 13-5 win over Southern Miss on Tuesday.

For the season, Marrero is hitting .304 with seven RBIs and 10 runs scored in 22 games.

“That guy can hit,” Mississippi State coach John Cohen said after the win over Southern Miss. “He’s got a really short, quick approach. Having watched him play in high school, you could tell he was going to hit. Early on, I think he lost his confidence but I think he’s got it back. That’s great for us.”

Although the Bulldogs are surging at the plate, the series opener figures to be a pitchers’ duel between their Friday night ace Dakota Hudson and his Ole Miss counterpart Brady Bramlett.

Bramlett leads the SEC and is ranked fourth nationally with 13.06 strikeouts per game, and is 4-1 with a 2.90 ERA.

Hudson is 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA, which is the best in the SEC.

He’s tied for fifth in the conference with 45 strikeouts and has only allowed five runs in 39 2/3 innings pitched.

The junior right-hander hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 21 2/3 innings.

“A lot of it has come through experience,” Hudson said of this season’s success. “I’ve been able to say I’ve been in almost every situation as a collegiate pitcher. Just being able to take a deep breath and knowing I’ve been through it all before, it’s huge knowing I can take care of it from there.”

Cohen said Hudson developed several pitches on his own over the summer while playing in the Cape Cod league.

He’s brought those back to Starkville and use them to transform into one of the SEC’s top pitchers.

“A good friend of mine who’s a cross-checker for a major league organization called me up and he said, ‘I just saw your guy pitch. Was he throwing this cutter? I saw this and I saw that,’” Cohen said. “When you’re allowed to go off on your own and play against very good competition and have great experience in the summer, I think you can really find yourself. Dakota is a great example of that.”