No. 21 Bulldogs Host Gators In Three-Game Series At The Dude
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
The radio broadcast of the games will be carried on the statewide MSUBaseball Radio Network and on the internet (www.MStateAthletics.com) tosubscribers of the MSU athletic department's premium site, "Maroon to theMax". MSU's baseball radio broadcast will also be available on Saturday andSunday to subscribers of SIRIUS Satellite Radio (channel 110).
Mississippi State will salute one of its past baseball greats duringceremonies prior to Friday¹s series-opener. Del Unser, an All-SEC andAll-American outfielder who helped lead MSU to conference titles in 1965 and1966, will throw out the first pitch Friday. Unser went on to a successful15-year career in major league baseball and later served as director ofplayer development with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Bulldog senior left-hander Brooks Dunn (7-4, 4.43) is scheduled to open onthe mound for MSU Friday. The Birmingham, Ala., native pitched acareer-first and staff season-first complete game in MSU's 6-2 win lastSaturday at No. 12 South Carolina. Florida will open with sophomore BryanAugenstein (8-4, 2.76), making his first start in the Friday night slot forthe Gators.
Postseason hopes will be on the line as both teams are in the hunt for aberth in the eight-team SEC Baseball Tournament May 24-28 in Hoover, Ala.With three weekends and nine games remaining, no team has clinched a berthand no team has been eliminated from the double-elimination event. MSU opensthe weekend in eighth place in the overall league standings, a half-gamebehind No. 7 Georgia (28-16, 10-11 SEC) and a half-game ahead of No. 9Auburn (22-25, 9-12). Florida is 3-1/2 games behind MSU.
A pair of Bulldogs enter the weekend with impressive SEC-leading numbers.Senior shortstop Thomas Berkery (.401) sports the league's top battingaverage while sophomore lefty Justin Pigott (4-1, 1.23), MSU's Saturdaystarter, leads the league in earned run average.
The series marks the return to Starkville of former MSU assistant and headcoach Pat McMahon, now in his fifth season as head coach at Florida.Florida's second-year assistant coach Tim Parenton also has MississippiState ties. Parenton was a two-sport letterman at MSU and later served onMcMahon's staff at State.
MSU travels to No. 11 Kentucky next weekend and then closes out its 2006regular season schedule at Dudy Noble Field against UT-Martin (May 16) andMississippi (May 18-20). The MSU-UM series is a Thursday-Saturday set.
