Twenty-Two Diamond Dawgs To Represent MSU Across Country This Summer
June 14, 2016 | Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – With a historic 2016 season in the rearview mirror, 22 returning Mississippi State baseball players will look to improve their skills in preparation for next spring as they travel the country and compete in various collegiate summer leagues.
Head coach John Cohen, the 2016 SEC Coach of the Year, will send 11 Diamond Dawgs to the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League, the most during his eight seasons in Starkville. The CCBL has been considered the premier amateur baseball summer league since its inception in 1885, with 292 former players in Major League Baseball alone last season. The Cape dominated this year's Major League Baseball Draft, as 14 of the top 34 picks were CCBL alumni, including MSU right hander Dakota Hudson, who was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 34th pick.
The Bulldogs will send seven freshmen, three sophomores and one junior from the 2016 squad to the CCBL. All-American and 2016 SEC Freshman of the Year Jake Mangum and teammate Elih Marrero will play for the Bourne Braves. Redshirt sophomore and All-SEC standout Brent Rooker will make his first appearance in the CCBL after spending the last two summers with the Plymouth Pilgrims. Rooker will play for the Brewster Whitecaps and will be joined by sophomore shortstop Ryan Gridley, freshman southpaw Konnor Pilkington and junior RHP Paul Young.
State will have freshman lefty Jared Padgett and sophomore righty Ryan Rigby with the Cotuit Kettlers this summer, the home last summer to two of MSU's program-record 11 2016 draftees Austin Sexton and Daniel Brown. Freshmen southpaws Ethan Small (Wareham Gateman), Kale Breaux (Chatham Anglers) and Trysten Barlow (Hyannis Harbor Hawks) round out MSU's CCBL participants. Barlow's summer 2016 squad is the former home of Hudson, who capped off his final year with the Maroon and White earning All-American and All-SEC honors.
Cole Gordon will head to the Plymouth Pilgrims of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, while Cody Brown will represent the Maroon and White in the Ripken League this summer for the third-straight year with the Bethesda Big Train. The Big Train is the same team former Bulldog All-American Hunter Renfroe played on when he was named MVP of the league in 2012, the summer before his breakout All-America campaign in Starkville.
In the Midwest, freshman right hander Ryan Cyr will continue a long line of Bulldogs who have played for the Lima Locos in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. Gordon was a member of the Locos in the summer of 2015, while Sexton was named Baseball America's No. 2 prospect in the GLSCL two summers ago as a member of the Locos.
Junior RHP Logan Elliot will also take to the Midwest for the Bulldogs, playing with the Green Bay Bullfrogs in the Northwoods League.
MSU will send a trio of players to the West Coast, as All-SEC star Jack Kruger will join Blake Smith and Hunter Stovall in the California Collegiate League. Kruger will play for the Conejo Oaks, while Smith and Stovall will team up and play with the Santa Barbara Foresters. Last summer, outgoing seniors Mike Smith and John Holland teamed up to lead the Foresters to the best regular season record, while Holland pulled in 2015 CCL All-League Team honors.
Other Bulldogs competing this summer include Keegan James (Strausburg Express) and Tanner Poole (Waynesboro Generals) of the Valley Baseball League, while Jacob Billingsley and Brant Blaylock will play for the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs of the Florida Collegiate Summer League.
For constant updates on the 22 Bulldogs playing summer ball, follow the team on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for “HailStateBB.” You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for “HailStateSnap.”
Mississippi State Baseball Players In 2016 Collegiate Summer Leagues
|
PLAYER |
POS. |
LEAGUE |
TEAM |
|
OPENING DAY |
|
LHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 3 |
||||
|
OF |
June 3 |
||||
|
LHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
OF |
June 7 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 7 |
||||
|
RHP |
May 31 |
||||
|
1B/RHP |
June 9 |
||||
|
INF |
June 10 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 1 |
||||
|
C |
TBA |
||||
|
OF |
June 10 |
||||
|
C |
June 10 |
||||
|
LHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
LHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
OF |
June 1 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
OF |
June 10 |
||||
|
LHP |
June 10 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 1 |
||||
|
C/INF |
June 1 |
||||
|
RHP |
June 10 |
