Diamond Dogs Open Series With Air Force Friday
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State takes on its first service academy opponent in 118 seasons of baseball this weekend when the Bulldogs play host to the Air Force Academy Falcons in a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field. Friday’s series-opener is set for 4 p.m. (CT). The radio broadcast of the game will be carried by WFCA-FM (107.9), the flagship radio station for MSU athletics. A special free live internet video webcast of the game will also be available on "Maroon to the Max", the premium extension of State’s official web site, www.MStateAthletics.com.
The Bulldogs (2-2) opened their current 14-game home stand Tuesday with a wind-chilled 9-2 win over UAB. The Falcons, meanwhile, picked up their initial win of the season Tuesday in Pueblo, Colo., with a 5-3, 10-inning win over North Colorado.
Senior lefty Justin Pigott (1-0, 3.60) is slated to open on the mound for the Bulldogs while sophomore right-hander David Miller (0-1, 16.88) is the designated starter for Air Force. It will be the second start of the year for both hurlers.
The game marks the return to Dudy Noble Field of fifth-year Air Force head coach Mike Hutcheon, who served as a graduate assistant coach on Ron Polk’s Mississippi State staff in 1988 and 1989 and later served five seasons as head baseball coach at Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss.
Freshman DH Jason Nappi (.571) and sophomore shortstop Russ Sneed (.353) have paced the Bulldogs at the plate and enter the series riding four-game hitting streaks. Nappi went 7-for-10 during last weekend’s three-game set at North Florida and delivered his first career home run, a game-winning fifth-inning grand slam in State’s Tuesday win over UAB. Sneed, a starter in all four games at shortstop, ended the 2007 campaign with a seven-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 11 consecutive games spanning two seasons.
Pigott, who led MSU’s College World Series edition with 76 strikeouts as a junior in 2007, struck out nine batters and scattered five hits over five innings last Friday in picking up the win in State’s 2008 season-opener.
Air Force is led at the plate by freshman outfielder Nathan Carter. A 23rd-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Carter (.462) leads or shares the team lead in hits, extra-base hits, RBI, walks and stolen bases.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. on "Scouts Day" when area Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops will attend the game as special guests of the Baseball Bulldogs. The series concludes with a 1:30 p.m. contest Sunday.
SATURDAY BAYLOR GAME TIME CHANGE
First pitch for the Saturday Cadence Bank Classic matchup with Baylor March 8 has been moved to 6 p.m. (CT) to accommodate basketball fans wishing to attend Mississippi State’s seasonal home finale against LSU. That game has been selected for broadcast by Raycom, with the start time set for 3 p.m. in Humphrey Coliseum.