Dogs Open SEC Season Against Tennessee In Top Ten Showdown
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
* Game Notes
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State opens its 72nd season of Southeastern Conference baseball competition this weekend playing host to Tennessee in an opening weekend showdown of top 10-ranked teams. Tennessee (14-3) enters the series ranked fifth by Baseball America while Mississippi State (13-0), riding the program's second-longest season-opening win streak, opens league play with a No. 6 ranking in the same national poll. The Bulldogs can tie the 1985 MSU edition's school record for season-opening wins (14) with a series-opening win Friday.
Friday's 6:30 p.m. contest marks Mississippi State's first game against a ranked opponent in 2006. Tennessee, one of two SEC teams to advance to last year's NCAA College World Series, becomes the third of 11 MSU opponent this season that participated in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
The series matches two of the SEC's top three-ranked pitching staffs. State sports the SEC's second-best team ERA (2.23) while Tennessee hurlers have compiled the third-best staff ERA (2.46). Both teams will open on the mound Friday with southpaws. State senior Brooks Dunn (3-0, 2.75) will work opposite UT sophomore Luke Adkins (4-1, 1.29). Brooks matched a career-best with a 7-2/3-inning start last Friday against Arkansas State. Adkins and UT Saturday starter Josh Lindblom are tied for fourth in the SEC with 40 strikeouts each.
Mississippi State's five starting pitchers have compiled a 2.89 earned run average while State's bullpen has notched an 0.89 ERA with a win and seven saves in 40-1/3 innings of relief work. Senior Brett Cleveland picked up his fourth save of the year in Wednesday's 7-4 win at Jacksonville State.
Bulldog senior shortstop Thomas Berkery enters the weekend riding a career-best 10-game hitting streak and sports a .413 batting average, sixth-best in the SEC. Berkery and sophomore catcher Edward Easley have hit safely in 12 of MSU's 13 games. Easley, a candidate for this year's Johnny Bench Award, owns a career-best eight-game hitting streak.
Tennessee features one of the SEC's top offensive stars in sophomore outfielder Julio Borbon from the Dominican Republic. Borbon, born in Starkville, Miss., while his father attended Mississippi State, sports a flashy .464 batting average, second-highest in the SEC, and a league-leading 17-game hitting streak.
The teams meet for the 61st time in Friday's series-opener, with Mississippi State owning a 39-21 all-time series lead. The Vols claimed a pair or 2-1 wins in a rain-shortened series last spring at UT's Lindsey Nelson Stadium. But the Bulldogs rallied to turn back Tennessee 3-2 in Hoover, Ala., last May to advance to the championship game of the SEC Baseball Tournament.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Network.
