Diamond Dogs Host Georgia In Super Bulldog Weekend Series
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State closes out its 21-game March schedule on the home field this weekend as the Bulldogs (10-13, 1-5 SEC) host the University of Georgia (13-9, 4-2 SEC). The three-game series is the anchor event for Mississippi State’s annual spring homecoming, Super Bulldog Weekend, on the MSU campus.
Game times are set for 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:36 p.m. Sunday. The series finale will be televised regionally by Comcast Sports, with Jim Ellis, the radio voice of the Baseball Bulldogs, and former MSU and Major League pitching standout Jay Powell handling the broadcast duties. The radio broadcast of all three games will be carried on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Network. Maroon to the Max, State's premium streaming service, will carry all three games via live audio, with only Friday's contest available via live video.
Sophomore left-hander Tyler Whitney (0-0, 6.14) of Lakeland, Tenn., is slated to open on the mound for MSU, making his first start of the season and his first career SEC start. Georgia will counter with junior right-hander Trevor Holder (3-2, 2.57). Whitney becomes the sixth MSU hurler to draw an SEC start in three weekends for the injury-plagued State pitching staff. Senior lefty Justin Pigott and junior relief ace Aaron Weatherford will miss the series. The duo continues to recover from shoulder injuries that have sidelined them for much of the season.
Sophomore shortstop Russ Sneed drilled a first-pitch home run over the left field fence in the 11th inning Wednesday night to lift Mississippi State to a 7-6 win over South Alabama and a split of their two-game midweek series. The Bulldogs rallied from an early 5-0 deficit and got five innings of combined shutout relief from team captains John Lalor and Chad Crosswhite to nail down the win. Crosswhite fanned the three batters he faced in the final inning to earn his first win of the campaign.
Freshman catcher Cody Freeman enters the weekend series with a team-best .373 batting average. Freshman outfielder/DH Jason Nappi (.372) leads the club with seven home runs and 27 RBI.
Mississippi State will face one of the SEC’s premier hitters during the series. Georgia junior shortstop Gordon Beckham (.474) begins weekend sporting the SEC’s second-highest batting average, leads the league in both hits (45) and home runs (13), and has piled up 32 RBI, second-most in the SEC. Beckham has been honored as the SEC Player of the Week the past two weeks.
Georgia, coached by David Perno, becomes the fourth opponent faced by State in 2008 whose head coach either played for or coach under MSU head coach Ron Polk. Perno was a member of Polk’s coaching staff at Georgia in 2000 and 2001.
The Dudy Noble Field ticket office opens two hours prior to each scheduled SEC game.