Dogs Hit The Road To Visit Tech, Test UL-Monroe In Pearl
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State continues a season-longest six-game road run this week as the Bulldogs (22-3), ranked third in the latest Baseball America national poll, visit Louisiana Tech (15-12) Tuesday in Ruston, La., before testing Louisiana-Monroe (5-21) in a pair of neutral site contests Wednesday at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss.
MSU returns to action at home this weekend, entertaining SEC East foe Georgia (18-9, 3-6 SEC) in a three-game league series that forms the cornerstone of the 21st annual Super Bulldog Weekend spring homecoming festivities on the MSU campus.
Tuesday's 6 p.m. game at LTU's J.C. Love Field is MSU's second meeting this season with Tech. In the 50th meeting in the series, State prevailed 11-1 in a March 7 game at Dudy Noble Field.
Junior right-hander Jon Crosby (2-0, 3.63) is due to make his fifth start of the year in Tuesday's game at LTU. Tech is expected to open on the mound with sophomore lefty Andrew Lassere (0-1, 15.30).
The Bulldogs make their Trustmark Park debut in Pearl, Miss., Wednesday when State meets the ULM Indians in a day/night doubleheader. Sophomore righty Trent Hill (0-0, 3.00) is scheduled to make his first career start in Wednesday's 4 p.m. game while freshman Matt Lea (4-0, 3.13) is due to the start the nightcap. State bested ULM 7-2 earlier this season in a Mar. 8 contest held at Dudy Noble Field.
MSU is the home team for the twinbill's opener, added to the MSU schedule to replace a Mar. 19 game against Tennessee that was cancelled by rain. ULM is the home team in the 7 p.m. game, which is scheduled to be televised in the Jackson area on WDBD (channel 40).
Mississippi State senior shortstop Thomas Berkery (.421) opens the week with the second-highest batting average in the Southeastern Conference and riding a league-longest 22-game hitting streak. Berkery went 9-for-18 (.500) last week and has now hit safely in 24 of 25 games. Junior second baseman Jeffrey Rea (.354) collected seven hits in last weekend's Alabama series, extending his career hitting streak against the Crimson Tide to all nine games while improving his league batting average for the year to a sizzling .472, second-highest in league competition.
The Bulldogs open the week sharing the SEC lead (with top-ranked South Carolina) in staff earned run average and MSU starting pitchers have worked at least five innings in all 25 games. The MSU pitching staff has compiled a 2.56 earned run average, while the Bulldog bullpen and compiled a a 5-1 record with eight saves and a 1.36 earned run average over 72-2/3 innings.
Game times for this weekend's MSU-Georgia series are set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Prior to Friday's series-opener MSU will conduct an open house at the recently-completed Palmeiro Center adjacent to Dudy Noble Field. Fans are invited to tour the spacious climate-controlled training facility between 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.
