Bulldogs Host Arkansas in Critical SEC West Showdown
March 17, 2011 | Softball
This weekend's series will be State's first experience with the new league format of three games over three days. Friday's series opener is set for a 5 p.m. first pitch, while the Saturday and Sunday contests are set for 1 p.m. starts. Admission to all MSU home softball games is free.
For fans unable to come to the games, free audio streams for each contest will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive. Sunday's game will also be televised live on Fox Sports Net.
Wednesday's pair of losses to the second-ranked Gators moved MSU to 12-14 overall and 2-2 in SEC action. Arkansas dropped both games of a Wednesday doubleheader to Kentucky to fall to 9-17, 0-5 in the league.
Senior Ali Bainbridge tallied a pair of hits in Wednesday's second game to run her team-high batting average to .364. The Vestavia Hills, Ala., native ranks among the SEC leaders with nine doubles, and she has hit two triples and a pair of home runs. Bainbridge has also scored a team-best 24 times while driving in eight runs.
Fellow senior Chelsea Raines ranks second on the squad with a .342 average and four home runs. The Ackerman, Miss., native has also driven in 15 runs while belting seven doubles during a career year at the plate.
Another senior, Courtney Nesbit, has brought the power to the Bulldog lineup, hitting a personal-best seven of State's 24 home runs this year. Nesbit paces the Dawgs with 23 RBI.
Sophomore Kylie Vry and Misty Flesher have seen the most action in the circle for Mississippi State, winning four games each. Vry tops the Bulldogs with 75.1 innings pitched and 57 strikeouts. Flesher, a Lone Grove, Okla., native has notched 41 K's over 53.1 innings.
Arkansas comes to campus hitting .263 as a team this season. Becca Carden has been the Razorbacks' biggest threat at the plate, leading the team in average (.329), triples (3), home runs (3) and RBI (16). She is also tied for the top spot with five doubles.
In the circle, UA has mainly gone with Kim Jones, Hope McLemore and Layne McGuirt. McLemore has picked up four of Arkansas' nine wins, and her 52 strikeouts sit one back of Jones (206, 3.80 ERA) for the team lead.
