Diamond Dogs Begin SEC Play Hosting Rival Rebels
STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Mississippi State launches its 74th season of Southeastern Conference baseball competition this weekend at Dudy Noble Field when the Bulldogs (7-7) play host to instate league rival Mississippi (11-4) in a three-game series.
Series game times are set for 3 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The series finale will be televised regionally by Comcast Sports.
Freshman left-hander Forrest Moore (1-1, 6.57) of Baton Rouge, La., will open on the mound for the Bulldogs while the Rebels, ranked as high as fifth (Baseball America) this week, are expected to counter with junior right-hander Lance Lynn (3-0, 1.69).
The Bulldogs overpowered Mississippi Valley State 15-0 and 11-5 in midweek games to even their overall record at 7-7. The Rebels split a pair of midweek home contests with Western Kentucky, winning 10-3 and bowing 8-5.
This year’s series marks the first time that the instate rivals have opened league play against each other since 1989 and the earliest in a season the teams have met since that same 1989 season.
A trio of Diamond Dogs has registered double-digit hitting streaks in the early going of the 2008 campaign. Sophomore shortstop Russ Sneed (.333) of Senatobia, Miss., opened the year with hits in 12 straight games and freshman designated hitter Jason Nappi (.423) of Birmingham, Ala., the team leader in hits (22), home runs (3) and RBI (13), fashioned a 10-game hit streak. Both have hit safely in 13 of MSU’s first 14 games. A third Bulldog, junior outfielder Grant Hogue (.452) of
Hattiesburg, Miss., enters the weekend series riding an 11-game hitting streak. Hogue has also been streaking on the base paths, where the MSU lead-off hitter has pilfered an SEC-leading 12 bases in as many attempts.
The Rebels are paced at the plate by Cody Overbeck, who begins the weekend with a .452 batting average, leads the club with five home runs and 12 extra-base hits, and ranks second in the SEC with 28 hits. The UM pitching staff sports a 2.85 earned run average and leads the SEC with 151 strikeouts through 15 games.
The Bulldogs close out a 14-game home stand with this weekend’s series. State then travels to UAB Tuesday (6:30 p.m.) before venturing on to Columbia, S.C., for an Easter weekend series against SEC Eastern Division foe South Carolina.