Diamond Dogs Test No. 12 Tide In Key SEC West Series
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State opens a new month of competition atDudy Noble Field this weekend when the Diamond Dogs (28-15, 9-11 SEC) playhost to the 12th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (33-14, 13-8 SEC). First pitchfor the series is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, with Saturday's game also setfor a 6:30 p.m. start time due to Saturday morning and afternooncommencement ceremonies at Humphrey Coliseum.
The MSU-Alabama series begins a run of five games in five days for theDiamond Dogs. Following Sunday's 1:30 p.m. series finale, State treks toJackson, Miss., Monday for a rare 6:30 p.m. matchup with theBirmingham-Southern Panthers, State's fourth game this season in the EntergyCollege Baseball Series at Smith-Wills Stadium. State then returns to DudyNoble Field Tuesday to host Mississippi Valley State at 6:30 p.m.
Senior righthander Alan Johnson (2-5, 4.71 ERA) is due to start for theBulldogs in Friday's series-opener while Alabama is expected to start Bamajunior righty T.J. Large (6-3, 2.42 ERA). It will be the 11th start of thecampaign for Johnson, who leads MSU with 41 strikeouts, and the 13th forLarge, who enters the weekend sharing the team lead with 80 strikeouts.
Alabama is the highest ranked opponent faced by the Bulldogs at Dudy NobleField this season. State took two of three games from the 17th-rankedVanderbilt Commodores in March and two of three from 16th-ranked Auburn onSuper Bulldog Weekend last month.
The Bulldogs, currently in fourth place in the SEC Western Division, areeager to shake a season-longest four-game losing streak and contend for aberth in the 2005 SEC Baseball Tournament. The teams with the top eight SECwinning percentages advance to the double-elimination tournament May 25-29in Hoover, Ala., competing for the SEC's automatic berth to the 2005 NCAABaseball Tournament. Both Mississippi State and Alabama missed theeight-team league tournament field in 2004.
MSU enters the weekend sporting a .289 team batting average, with junioroutfielder Brad Corley (.316) leading the Bulldogs at the plate in battingaverage, hits (56) and doubles (15). Versatile Bulldog junior ThomasBerkery, (.306), who drew starts at three different positions in lastweekend's three-game set at Mississippi, leads MSU with five home runs and acareer-best 38 RBI.
For the second weekend in a row the Bulldogs face the league's top hitter.Alabama junior outfielder Gabe Scott opened the week with 54 hits and aleague-best .412 batting average. Bulldog pitching limited last week'shitting leader, UM's Brian Pettway, to three hits on the weekend. Thirdbaseman Evan Bush leads Alabama with 13 home runs and 45 runs batted in.
Alabama holds a 189-176-4 lead in Mississippi State's second-oldest andsecond-most contested baseball rivalries. State has closed the gap in recentmeetings, winning five of the last six and back-to-back series wins for thefirst time since 1994-95. A year ago at Sewell-Thomas Stadium the Bulldogsregistered their first series sweep in Tuscaloosa since 1994, topping theTide 11-9, 7-1, 4-1 on the final weekend of the regular season. Through theyears, MSU holds a 101-69-2 edge in games played in Starkville and a 56-25record in games at the current Dudy Noble Field site, where State has wonsix of the last seven series with Alabama in Starkville. Alabama claimed the2001 series by a 2-1 count.
