No. 8 Diamond Dogs Battle Auburn On The Plains
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - No. 8 Mississippi State seeks to end a peskyseason-longest three-game losing skid and win its third league series of thecampaign this weekend when the Bulldogs (25-7, 6-5 SEC) take on the AuburnTigers (16-20, 4-8 SEC) in a three-game series at Plainsman Park.
The series begins Friday at 7 p.m. CDT, with the radio broadcast of allthree weekend games distributed on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Networkand available on "Maroon to the Max", the premium extension of the MSUAthletic Department's official web site, MStateAthletics.com. SIRIUSSatellite Radio (channel 153) will also broadcast the Saturday and Sundaygames of the Auburn series, this weekend featuring the Auburn radio networkbroadcast.
Since opening the year with a school-record 18-0 win streak, MSU has posteda 7-7 mark, dropping two of three games over the last two weekends to bothAlabama and Georgia. State trails SEC West-leading Alabama by 2-1/2 gamesheading into the Auburn series. In their seven losses, the Bulldogs havebeen out-scored by a composite 14 runs, including two one-run losses andfour two-run setbacks.
Stlll, Mississippi State enters the weekend sporting the SEC's top teambatting average (.310). Senior shortstop Thomas Berkery (.418), the league'sleading hitter, opens the weekend riding an SEC-best and MSU-record 29-gamehitting streak. The Sarasota, Fla., native has hit safely in 31 of MSU's 32games, ranks second in the league with 51 hits, and paces the Diamond Dogswith 15 multi-hit games.
The Bulldog pitching staff also continues to rank as one of the league'sbest, carrying the SEC's second-best staff ERA - 2.91, into the Auburnseries. Senior left-hander Brooks Dunn (6-1, 3.06), tied for second in theSEC with six wins, is slated to draw his eighth start of the season inFriday's series-opener, working opposite Auburn sophomore righty Brett Butts(2-5, 5.76).
Mississippi State owns an 82-75-1 all-time series lead against Auburn in arivalry that dates back to 1908. State claimed 2-1 series wins the last twoseasons - in Starkville last year (4-1, 7-8, 4-0) and at Auburn in 2004(6-4, 9-8, 5-6). Auburn commands a 42-27 all-time lead in games played atAuburn. MSU skipper Ron Polk is 71-55 lifetime against Auburn while TomSlater, in his second season as head coach at Auburn, is 1-2 against State.
Mississippi State held on to its top 10 national ranking this week in allfour college baseball polls. State opened the week at No. 8 (NCBWA writersassociation poll), No. 9 (USA TODAY/ESPN coaches poll), and No. 10 (BaseballAmerica and Collegiate Baseball). It marks State's seventh consecutive weekwith top 10 ranking. MSU spent two weeks ranked atop Baseball America'snational rankings, MSU's first No. 1 ranking since 1993 and fourth in schoolhistory (1985, 1989, 1993 and 2006). All four of those teams were coached byMSU skipper Ron Polk.
MSU continues its six-game road run next week with a pair of midweek gamesagainst the University of Memphis Apr. 18-19, playing at UM's Nat BuringField Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) and at AutoZone Park in Memphis Wednesday (7p.m.). MSU then opens the second half of the 2006 SEC season hostingWestern Division rival Arkansas Apr. 21-23.
