Diamond Dogs Host Auburn In Top 10 Super Bulldog Weekend Showdown
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State's sixth-ranked Baseball Bulldogs face the stiffest challenge of the season and hit the midpoint of the 2003 Southeastern Conference race this weekend when State (24-5-1, 9-2 SEC) hosts the fifth-ranked Auburn Tigers (27-7, 9-3 SEC) in a key three-game SEC series at Dudy Noble Field.
Auburn represents the first top 10-ranked opponent for Mississippi State this season. The Bulldogs, after climbing to as high as fifth last week (MSU's highest ranking since 1993), are ranked No. 6 (Baseball America, NCBWA), No. 7 (Collegiate Baseball) and No. 8 (Sports Weekly/ESPN). Auburn is ranked No. 5 (Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ESPN), No. 8 (NCBWA) and No. 10 (Collegiate Baseball). Auburn is the first top 10-ranked opponent for MSU this season.
Bulldog ace lefty Paul Maholm (5-1, 1.31) squares off against Tiger junior right-hander Eric Brandon (2-1, 4.60) in Friday's 6:30 p.m. series-opener. Saturday's Super Bulldog Weekend matchup is set for 3 p.m. while the series finale, set to be televised regionally by Comcast Sports Southeast, has a 1:30 p.m. start time.
The game matches the SEC's top pitching staffs against one of the league's best hitting clubs. Mississippi State enters the weekend sporting the SEC's top team earned run average (2.45), while Auburn's Tigers hit at a .317 clip, just ahead of State's .316 mark. Auburn second baseman Tug Hulett paces the SEC with a .410 batting average and ranks second in the league with 17 doubles.
Senior Matthew Maniscalco, a starter at shortstop in all 213 career games at MSU, leads the team with a .378 batting average. Just behind and riding a season-best 12-game hitting streak is freshman catcher Craig Tatum (.370).
The MSU-Auburn baseball series dates back to 1908, and the Bulldogs have built up a 78-70-1 advantage in its battles on the diamond with the Tigers. The teams have evenly split their last 10 meetings, with Auburn prevailing 2-1 (7-5, 1-12, 19-7) a year ago at Plainsman Park and the Bulldogs claiming a series sweep (2-1, 8-0, 8-2) in 2001, the last time the teams met at Dudy Noble Field. The home team has claimed the last four meetings in the series, ending a four-year run (1995-1998) when the visiting team claimed at least two weekend wins. State holds a 41-23 all-time lead over Auburn in games played in Starkville.
CHECKING IN AT 30 -- Mississippi State's 24-5-1 overall record represents the Bulldogs' third-best 30-game record all-time. Ron Polk's first SEC championship and NCAA College World Series team at MSU raced to a school-best 27-3 start in 1979. Two other MSU teams, the 1989 club and the highly-celebrated 1985 edition, opened their seasons with 25-5 records. State's 9-2 SEC record stands as its best start in SEC competition since the 1989 club opened the year with a 14-1 league mark.
SUPER BULLDOG WEEKEND -- Season-largest crowds are anticipated at Dudy Noble Field during this weekend's MSU-Auburn series, one of the central points of Super Bulldog Weekend, State's annual spring homecoming celebration. Last year's Super Bulldog Weekend Saturday game with Georgia had a paid attendance of 12,360, the largest of the year and the sixth-largest all-time at Dudy Noble Field. Dudy Noble Field holds the NCAA on-campus attendance record set in 1989 when 14,991 watched the Bulldogs and the Florida Gators play a twinbill at Dudy Noble Field. The 3 p.m. MSU-Auburn baseball game caps a busy Saturday on campus that includes a 9:30 a.m. volleyball clinic, a 10 a.m. track meet, the Noon spring football game and a 1 p.m. men's tennis match.
ON DECK -- MSU resumes nonconference midweek competition next week before playing hitting the trail for its next two weekends of league competition. State hosts Mississippi Valley State (Apr. 15 - 6:30 p.m.) and then closes out a season-longest seven-game homestand against Samford (Apr. 16 - 6:30 p.m.). MSU travels to Columbia, S.C., Apr. 18-20 to test defending SEC champion South Carolina and then visits Gainesville, Fla., Apr. 25-27 to take on the SEC East-leading Florida Gators.
