Bulldogs Open vs. Baylor in Lafayette Regional
May 14, 2015 | Softball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Making its fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament, the Mississippi State softball team (35-19) will begin its road to Oklahoma City at the Lafayette Regional for the second-straight year.
The Bulldogs will open the double-elimination regional on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT against Baylor (38-14) from Lamson Park.
The game will air on ESPN3, which can be seen exclusively through WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. Pam Ward and Cheri Kempf will call the entire regional, while the voice of Bulldog Softball, Anthony Craven have the call on all of State's games on HailStatePLUS.
LAFAYETTE REGIONAL SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CENTRAL)
Friday, May 15
G1: 5:30 p.m. – Mississippi State vs. Baylor (ESPN3)
G2: 8:00 p.m. – Weber State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (ESPN3)
Saturday, May 16
G3: 3:30 p.m. – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (ESPN3)
G4: 6 p.m. – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (ESPN)
G5: 8:30 p.m. – Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 (ESPN)
Sunday, May 17
G6: 7 p.m. – Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 (ESPN2)
G7: 9:30 p.m. – (if necessary) Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (ESPNU)
MSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Head coach Vann Stuedeman has now led the Bulldogs to 33-plus wins and an NCAA Tournament berth in each of her first four seasons at the helm of the program.
The Bulldogs have now reached four-straight NCAA Tournaments for just the second time in program history, with the first stretch having come from 2002 to 2005.
MSU will make its 12th NCAA Tournament appearance in its 19th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference, with an overall record of 11-22 in the regional round. All 12 of the appearances have come since the 2000 season. The Bulldogs have won a regional game in each of the past two seasons and have never advanced to the super regional round of play.
In the 2014 Lafayette Regional, State went 1-2 by beating Texas Southern and falling to Texas twice, but did not face host ULL.
TEAM & PLAYER NOTES
· The Bulldogs have 15 come-from-behind wins in 2015 and 50 in the four years of the Stuedeman era.
· State is an impressive 21-1 when scoring first this season.
· With sophomore Mackenzie Toler's two home runs on Saturday, May 2 at South Carolina, State set a new single-season home run record for the program (52). Previously 51 in 2013.
· Three different Bulldogs have recorded two-home run games this season, all of which have come in SEC play. (Sophomore Caroline Seitz at Arkansas, April 4 and senior Katie Gentle vs. Tennessee, April 19)
· First year assistant coach and hitting coach Samantha Ricketts has helped MSU break its 2014 totals for home runs (52), doubles (81), triples (16), hits (460), runs scored (320), RBIs (288) and stolen bases (95).
· Sophomore Katie Anne Bailey ranks tied for second in the SEC and fourth in all of Division I in triples with eight after she recorded two at Georgia Southern (April 26), which made her the first Bulldog to hit two triples in a game since senior Ashley Phillips did so on March 3, 2012 vs. Columbia. Also MSU's catcher, Bailey leads the league in runners caught stealing by, with 14.
· Seitz ranks fourth in the SEC in doubles (15), tied for 16th in home runs (13) and 15th in RBI (51), she also leads the team in all three categories.
· Sophomore Alexis Silkwood, who won two-straight SEC Pitcher of the Week honors (March 30 & April 6), ranks second in the conference in batters struck out (199), tied for first in wins (25), first in innings pitched (216.2) and second in appearances (44).
THE REGIONAL FIELD
State and BU are joined in Lafayette by Big Sky Tournament Champion Weber State (38-17) and the hosts Louisiana-Lafayette (39-9), who earned the No. 13 overall seed in the tournament after winning the regular season Sun Belt title.
Both the Bears and Ragin Cajuns are one year removed from appearances in the 2014 Women's College World Series.
STATE VS. THE FIELD
MSU is 0-3 all-time against Baylor with the two teams having met in Gulfport, Miss. in a game that the Bears won 1-0 in eight innings. State is 3-12 all-time vs. ULL, while Weber State and MSU never having met in the history of the two programs.
For more information on the MSU softball program, follow "HailStateSB" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also find all-access coverage of the Bulldogs on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
