No. 25 Diamond Dogs Test USM Tuesday At Trustmark Park
STARKVILLE, Miss. - After 50 consecutive campus meetings in either Starkville or Hattiesburg, the Mississippi State-Southern Mississippi baseball rivalry makes a series-first stop at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., Tuesday when the Bulldogs (12-5) take on the Golden Eagles (11-5) in a 6:30 p.m. neutral site matchup.
It’s the first of two games in 2009 for the Bulldogs at the 5,500-seat home of Mississippi Braves, the Class AA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves’ stadium. State returns to Pearl Apr. 14 for the third annual Governor’s Cup game. MSU is the designated visiting team for both of its 2009 games at Trustmark Park, where State owns a 5-0 mark since 2006. MSU and USM are scheduled to meet again this season, an Apr. 8 date at Dudy Noble Field.
The Bulldogs won four of five games last week, including an SEC season-opening weekend series win over No. 17 South Carolina at Dudy Noble Field. State’s 2-1 showing against the Gamecocks helped the Bulldogs climb back into the national rankings this week. Tucson-based Collegiate Baseball newspaper ranked the Bulldogs at No. 25 in its latest weekly poll, State’s highest ranking since the 2008 preseason national polls.
Junior right-hander Ricky Bowen (1-0, 4.30) has been tabbed for starting mound duty against the Golden Eagles. USM is expected to counter with a split pitching crew led by sophomore righty Todd McInnis (2-1, 3.66).
State second baseman Jet Butler (.458) enjoyed a productive week at the plate for State, hitting at a .588 clip (10-for-17) with four doubles and a team-best 11 RBIs. Butler, who notched his first career four-hit and four-RBI games and tied a school mark with three doubles in last week’s 9-2 win over Valparaiso, enters the week riding his second six-game hitting streak of the season and paces State at the plate with 22 hits, five doubles and 18 RBI.
The Golden Eagles’ batting order is paced by senior shortstop Brian Dozier (.441), who leads USM with 30 hits and shares the team RBI lead with 19.
USM claimed both meetings in 2008, winning11-7 and 12-7 in Hattiesburg.
Mississippi State owns a 72-34 all-time series lead, including all three games played at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson from 1987 to 1989.
After playing 13 early-season home games, the Bulldogs will be on the road for nine of their next 12 games. After Tuesday’s trip to Pearl, the Bulldogs return to Starkville to host the UAB Blazers (10-6) Wednesday before resuming SEC competition with a three-game weekend series Mar. 20-22 against the third-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Ga. The Friday and Sunday games of the MSU-Georgia series will be televised live regionally on Comcast Sports Southeast.