Wednesday Bulldog Update - 5/10/17
May 10, 2017
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It is with a heavy heart that I write to you this week as all of us in the Mississippi State family mourn the loss of Kaelin Kersh, a senior on our track and field team whose life was tragically taken at 22 years old in a car accident on Sunday. Kaelin's legacy is not just that she was a student-athlete and a Bulldog, but that she was a friend, a daughter and a young woman who exuded positivity and whose smile was contagious to all she encountered. It is a terrible tragedy to lose a life that was so young and so promising, and Kaelin had just walked across the stage on Friday night to receive her degree from MSU with nursing school as the next step of her journey.As those of us on campus and all of those who knew and loved Kaelin grieve over this news, we also celebrate the wonderful person she was and remember the example she gave in the way she lived her life. Through the memories cherished by those whose lives she impacted, Kaelin's legacy will live on forever.
Our thoughts and prayers are with her friends and family, and certainly our hearts go out to her teammates and coaches at MSU as they mourn her loss and celebrate her achievements as their season goes on.
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BULLDOG TENNIS TEAMS IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPSAs we look ahead to our events on the horizon, we all want to wish our men's and women's tennis teams - both ranked 18th nationally - good luck as they begin play in the NCAA Championships this weekend. I know I join all of you in saying how proud and happy I am for our young men and women and all they've accomplished on the court this year.
Coach Roberts and his men are up first as they play SMU in the opening round on Friday at 10 a.m. in Norman, Oklahoma. Coach Greenan and his ladies begin play on Saturday when they take the court vs. Northwestern in Atlanta, also a 10 a.m. CT start. I'd encourage any Bulldogs nearby those locales to go out and support your tennis teams if you are able, and I know everyone across the country will be pulling for our teams this weekend. Good luck to them all, and make sure to see below for more on the season they have had.
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BASEBALL ATOP SEC, DNF CELEBRATION PLANNEDI want to start this section off by saying, for what feels like the umpteenth time, how proud of and happy I am for Coach Cannizaro and our baseball Bulldogs who are tied for first in the Southeastern Conference with just two weeks left in the regular season. The effort they've given and the resiliency they've displayed all year has been an absolute joy to watch, even if all those late-game comebacks haven't exactly been great for my blood pressure. This team has been on an incredible run, and I hope you will all join me in giving them all the support they deserve over these final weeks and into the postseason as the SEC and NCAA Tournaments arrive soon.
More information on this will be shared soon if it isn't out already but, next weekend, we are putting on a Dudy Noble Field Celebration Series in our final regular season series against LSU to celebrate the history of our historic home in anticipation of construction beginning on our new stadium at the conclusion of home events this season. The Thursday-Saturday weekend will include a great many activities and events as we celebrate the tremendous history of Mississippi State Baseball.
For any Diamond Dog alumni who have not received information about the weekend, please visit www.HailState.com/dnfrsvp for details.
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SOFTBALL OPENS SEC TOURNEY PLAY TODAY; PLAYERS EARN ALL-SEC HONORSAnother shout out this week goes to our softball team. After taking two-of-three from No. 16 Kentucky in an inspired home series this past weekend on campus, Coach Stuedeman's club opens play in the 2017 SEC Softball Tournament today at 1:30 p.m. CT in Knoxville, Tenn. Our Bulldogs will be taking on rival Ole Miss in their opener and we certainly wish them good luck.
Secondly, the All-SEC softball teams were announced this week, with MSU seniors Caroline Seitz and Amanda Ivy earning honors. Seitz was named First-Team All-SEC after an incredible offensive season and is MSU's 19th All-SEC First Team selection all-time. She leads the league in SEC-only games with 28 RBI, 55 total bases, seven home runs and a .724 slugging percentage. One of the nation's best outfielders who has robbed a number of home runs while locking down center field for our squad, Ivy was named to the All-SEC Defensive Team, becoming the first player in school history to make the All-SEC Defensive Team.
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BULLY PULPIT SERVES UP BULLDOG TENNISAs I mentioned above, the seasons that each of our tennis teams have had, and are having, are worth celebration. As such, host Matt Wyatt is joined on The Bully Pulpit this week by men's head coach Matt Roberts and women's head coach Daryl Greenan to talk about the programs they've built and the NCAA Championships on the horizon. You can listen by clicking here or by searching and subscribing to "Hail State" on iTunes or SoundCloud.
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Thanks for taking the time to read this Update.
Hail State!
John Cohen
Director of Athletics
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