Diamond Dogs Climb In Polls, Host New Orleans To Wrap Up Home Stand
March 22, 2005 | Baseball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State closes out a seven-game home stand and a 13-game home schedule for March with a pair of midweek battles with the University of New Orleans. The Diamond Dogs (13-3, 2-1 SEC) and the Privateers (4-13) open their two-game set Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and meet in a 4 p.m. game Wednesday at Dudy Noble Field.
MSU has tabbed junior lefty Brooks Dunn (3-0, 5.51) for starting mound duty, his fourth start of the campaign. The birmingham, Ala., hurler has posted wins in his three previous starts this season against Mississippi Valley State, Louisiana Tech and Memphis. McCool, Miss., native and former Weir High School and Holmes Community College pitcher Michael Jones (1-4, 5.88) will make his sixth start this season for the Privateers. The senior right-hander leads UNO with 20 strikeouts.
Tuesday night's series-opener, broadcast on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Network, marks the 61st baseball meeting between the Bulldogs and the Privateers. State holds a 39-21 all-time series lead dating back to 1970 and a 23-9 edge in games played in Starkville. MSU claimed 7-2 and 9-4 wins over UNO at Privateer Park in 2003 in the last meetings between the two clubs.
Tom Walter is in his first season as head baseball coach at New Orleans, and on his staff is former MSU catcher Chuck Bartlett (1982-83). The Privateers open Sun Belt Conference competition with a three-game home series this weekend against Western Kentucky. UNO has not played a game since posting an 11-2 win Mar. 13 in the finale of a home series with McNeese State. A scheduled Mar. 15 matchup with LSU at Maestri Field was rained out. Center fielder Brandon Bowser (.368) went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and four RBI while DH Miles Cabeceiras (.435) also drove in four runs in the 11-2 win over McNeese State.
Mississippi State posted a 4-1 record last week, including a 2-1 showing against 17th-ranked Vanderbilt on opening weekend in Southeastern Conference play. The 4-1 worksheet helped Mississippi State move up in this week's national rankings. MSU is No. 17 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll, No. 18 in the NCBWA baseball writers' poll, and makes its seasonal debut at No. 24 in both the Baseball America and the Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches poll. It's the first week MSU has been ranked in all four national polls this season.
Junior center fielder Joseph Hunter (.442) collected eight hits over the span and extended his career-best and team season-longest hitting streak to 12 games. The Germantown, Tenn., product opens the week with the second-highest batting average in the Southeastern Conference. Junior right fielder Brad Corley (.343) from Louisville, Ky., ripped five doubles and drove in five runs last week. He now has hits in 14 of MSU's 16 games.
Freshman John Lalor (1-0, 1.35) of Germantown, Tenn., is the designated Bulldog starter for Wednesday's game.
The Bulldogs resume league competition on the road this weekend with a three-game set at No. 5 Arkansas (18-2, 2-1 SEC). Weekend game times at Baum Stadium/Cole Field in Fayetteville are 6:35 p.m., 3:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m.
BASEBALL AMERICA'S TOP 25
Last Team W-L Week Prev. 1. Cal State Fullerton 16-4 2-1 2 2. Tulane 19-3 4-0 3 3. Louisiana State 17-4 3-0 5 4. Texas 21-4 0-3 1 5. Georgia Tech 19-2 3-0 10 6. Miami 20-5 3-1 7 7. Mississippi 17-4 4-1 14 8. Arkansas 18-2 2-1 15 9. South Carolina 17-3 2-2 410. Baylor 15-7 4-0 1611. Florida 16-6 1-2 612. Stanford 12-7 1-0 1213. Arizona 16-9 2-3 914. Texas A&M 17-7 2-2 815. Rice 15-8 1-3 1116. North Carolina 15-5 4-2 1317. Florida State 24-4 3-0 2018. Oregon State 16-3 3-0 2219. College of Charleston 16-4 3-1 1820. Nebraska 18-2 6-0 2321. Texas Tech 17-6 2-1 NR22. Texas Christian 14-7 2-2 2423. Southern California 13-6 4-0 NR24. Mississippi State 13-3 4-1 NR25. Central Florida 23-4 4-1 NR
Dropped Out: Vanderbilt (17), Louisiana-Lafayette (19), Georgia (21), East Carolina (25).
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Poll
(As of March 21, 2005)
Rank School (Record) Points Previous 1. Cal. State Fullerton (16-4) 494 3 2. Tulane (19-3) 492 4 3. Louisiana State (17-4) 490 5 4. Georgia Tech (19-2) 489 6 5. Arkansas (18-2) 486 7 6. South Carolina (17-3) 485 2 7. Texas (21-4) 482 1 8. Florida State (24-4) 479 16 9. Nebraska (18-2) 474 21 10. Miami, Fla. (20-5) 472 11 11. North Carolina (15-5) 470 9 12. Florida (16-6) 468 10 13. Baylor (15-7) 464 26 14. Stanford (12-7) 463 15 15. Texas A&M (17-7) 462 12 16. Arizona (16-9) 460 13 17. Mississippi State (13-3) 459 18 18. Mississippi (17-4) 458 20 19. UL-Lafayette (19-4) 454 19 20. Central Florida (23-4) 452 22 21. Wichita State (19-5) 450 14 22. Michigan (11-3) 448 23 23. Southern Califfornia (13-6) 447 24 24. Rice (15-8) 445 8 25. Coastal Carolina (17-3) 443 28 26. Col. of Charleston (16-4) 440 - 27. Tennessee (16-5) 437 25 28. Oregon State (16-3) 435 30 29. Washington (13-8) 432 - 30. Long Beach State (16-9) 428 -
USA TODAY SPORTS WEEKLY/ESPN TOP 25 COACHES' POLL - 3/21/2005
The Sports Weekly/ESPN Top 25 College Coaches' Poll as selected by 40 Division I coaches representing the American Baseball Coaches Association.
Rank School (Record) Points Prev. 1. Cal State Fullerton (16-4) 978 2 2. Tulane (19-3) 961 4 3. Louisiana State (17-4) 907 5 4. Texas (21-4) 864 1 5. Arkansas (18-2) 775 8 6. South Carolina (17-3) 774 3 7. Miami (Fla.) (20-5) 770 6 8. Georgia Tech (19-2) 734 9 9. Mississippi (17-4) 569 15 10. Stanford (12-7) 566 12 11. Baylor (15-7) 558 19 12. Florida State (24-4) 506 16 13. Arizona (16-9) 491 10 14. Rice (15-8) 475 7 15. Texas A&M (17-7) 418 11 16. Nebraska (18-2) 379 21 17. North Carolina (15-5) 373 14 18. Florida (16-6) 314 13 19. Texas Tech (17-6) 224 24 20. Louisiana-Lafayette (19-4) 223 17 21. Southern California (13-6) 206 23 22. Wichita State (19-5) 156 22 23. Oregon State (16-3) 99 NR 24. Mississippi State (13-3) 95 NR 25. Vanderbilt (14-5) 86 20Dropped out: No. 18 Georgia (10-9), No. 25 TCU (14-7).
Others receiving votes: Alabama 85; TCU 56; Georgia 54; Long Beach State 52; Arizona State 36; Coastal Carolina 34; Central Florida 32; Tennessee 23; Michigan 21; Winthrop 20; Virginia 14; Washington 14; Evansville 13; College of Charleston 11; Clemson 9; Pepperdine 8; Oklahoma State 7; Auburn 4; Nevada 3; San Jose State 2; Kansas 1.
2005 NCBWA Division I Baseball Poll
Rank/School (Record)1. Tulane (19-3)2. Cal State Fullerton (16-4)3. LSU (17-4)4. Georgia Tech (16-2)5. Arkansas (18-2)6. Texas (21-4)7. South Carolina (17-3)8. Florida State (24-4)9. Miami (Fla.) (20-5)10. North Carolina (15-5)11. Stanford (12-7)12. Baylor (15-7)13. Mississippi (17-4)14. Oregon State (16-3)15. Texas A&M (17-7)16. Arizona (16-9)17. UL Lafayette (19-4)18. Mississippi State (13-3)19. Nebraska (18-2)20. UCF (23-4)21. Coastal Carolina (17-3)22. Wichita State (19-5)23. Michigan (11-3)24. College of Charleston (16-4)25. Texas Tech (17-6)26. TCU (14-7)27. Southern California (13-6)28. Tennessee (16-5)29. Rice (15-8)30. Oklahoma State (17-7)31. UAB (15-5)32. Washington (13-8)33. Florida Atlantic (14-7)34. Alabama (18-5)35. San Francisco (16-7)Also Receiving Votes (alphabetically): Arizona State, Auburn, Boston College, Clemson, UC Irvine, Bowling Green, Dallas Baptist, East Carolina, Evansville, Hawai'i, Lamar, Louisville, Minnesota, Missouri, N.C. State, Northwestern State, Ohio State, Oral Roberts, Pepperdine, Rhode Island, St. John's, Southern Miss, Stetson, Texas State, UNLV, USF, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Winthrop
