No. 17 Diamond Dogs Test Golden Eagles Twice In Hattiesburg
May 25, 2016 | Baseball
Senior left-hander Brooks Dunn (6-3, 4.64) is slated to draw his firstmidweek start of the season Tuesday night for State opposite USM sophomoreright-hander Barry Bowden (2-1, 3.90).
The Bulldogs won three of five games played last week to retain theirposition in the national rankings for college baseball. State is No. 17 inthe USA TODAY/ESPN coaches poll, 20th in Collegiate Baseball and 24th in theBaseball America listing. State has been ranked in the top 20 of at leastone of the national polls for 13 weeks, including a two-week run as BaseballAmerica's top-ranked team.
Both State and Southern Miss are battling through April struggles. TheBulldogs, who have played just six home games this month, are 8-9 in Apriland 11-11 since opening the season with a school-record 18-game winningstreak. USM is 7-7 in April and 5-3 at home during that span.
Junior designated hitter Brian LaNinfa (.360), tabbed for national player ofthe week honors by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, enters the week riding acareer-longest 11-game hitting streak. LaNinfa belted four home runs in thelast five games and delivered game-winning hits in two of MSU's three winslast week.
A capacity crowd is expected at Pete Taylor Park this week where 15 of the19 best-attended regular-season games at the Golden Eagles¹ home stadiumhave been MSU-USM games. The two teams have met 100 times previously, withState holding a 69-31 edge in the series.
MSU wraps up its 22-game April schedule this weekend in Columbia, S.C., asthe Bulldogs take on the SEC Eastern Division co-leading South CarolinaGamecocks (30-11, 11-7 SEC) in a three-game set at Sarge Frye Field.
