Bulldogs Hit Road To Challenge No. 6 Tennessee
April 20, 2011 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State continues its quest for a spot in the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament as it heads to Knoxville for a three-game softball series against sixth-ranked Tennessee beginning Thursday at Lee Stadium.
First pitch for Thursday's opener is set for 6 p.m. CT. Friday's game is slated for a 5 p.m. start, while Saturday's finale is scheduled for 11 a.m. The opening two games of the series will be televised live on SportSouth, and a free audio stream for all three games will be available at www.mstateathletics.com/m2mlive.
Mississippi State heads to Knoxville 22-24 overall and 8-11 in SEC play. The Dawgs rebounded from three setbacks at third-ranked Alabama last weekend with a 9-1 home win against Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday.
Tennessee (39-6) is tied with Alabama for the overall SEC lead with a 15-4 record. The Lady Vols won their 11th-straight game with a victory against Radford Tuesday night.
The weekend series features two coaches who claimed their 1,000th-career victories in the same weekend. Bulldog head coach Jay Miller reached the milestone on April 8, two days before UT co-head coach Ralph Weekly claimed the honor.
The Lady Vols lead the overall series 25-14, but the two teams have split the last eight meetings. Mississippi State claimed a series win, its first against UT since 2001, in its last trip to Knoxville (2009).
Ali Bainbridge has been stellar against Tennessee in her career, hitting .462. The Vestavia Hills, Ala., native is in the midst of a career year at the plate, hitting a team-best .369 with 12 doubles, four triples, four home runs, 14 RBI and 44 runs scored.
Junior Ka'ili Smith has tallied a .351 average, and she has four doubles, a triple and two home runs to go along with 23 RBI and 29 runs scored.
Senior Courtney Nesbit, a .333 hitter, has notched a team- and personal-best eight home runs this season to go along with a Bulldog-best 40 RBI.
In the circle, sophomores Kylie Vry and Stephanie Becker have made the majority of the starts for MSU in league play. Vry owns a team-high eight wins, and she has struck out 83. Becker sits at 6-5 this season with a 4.61 ERA. She has 66 K's in 74.1 innings.
Junior Misty Flesher tossed three innings of two-hit relief Tuesday to notch her seventh win of the year. The Lone Grove, Okla., native tops the team and the SEC with four saves, and she has struck out 59 in 83.1 innings.
Ellen and Ivy Renfroe pace Tennessee's pitching staff. Ellen Renfroe sits at 21-2 this season with 212 strikeouts and a 1.18 ERA. Ivy Renfroe has tallied 14 wins, a 2.14 ERA and 99 strikeouts.
Offensively, the Lady Vols are topped by Lauren Gibson's .445 average. Raven Chavanne, a .432 hitter, leads UT in hits (64), while Kat Dotson and Shelby Burchell pace the team in RBI (58) and home runs (12), respectively.
