State, Auburn Open Weekend Series Friday At Dudy Noble Field
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State hits the midway point of its 2009 baseball season this weekend when the Diamond Dogs (15-13, 3-6 SEC) play host to SEC Western Division rival Auburn (18-9, 4-5 SEC) in a three-game series at Dudy Noble Field.
Friday’s series-opener is set for 6:30 p.m., with State junior lefty Tyler Whitney (2-2, 3.91) set to open on the mound opposite AU’s sophomore southpaw Grant Dayton (2-3, 3.18). The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and concludes Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. contest.
The Bulldogs, whose 13-2 home records stands as one of the best in the SEC this year, have played their last four and eight of their last nine games away from Dudy Noble Field. State dropped a 7-1 Wednesday night decision at UL-Monroe as th4 Warhawks broke up a 1-1 pitcher’s duel with a six-run burst in the seventh. MSU sophomore lefty Forrest Moore recorded a career-best and staff season-high 11 strikeouts and yielded a run on two hits before departing the game after the sixth inning. The Bulldogs got a two-hit plate performance by senior outfielder Grant Hogue and scored their lone run on a solo home run by junior DH Ryan Duffy.
Hogue registered his 17th stolen base in as many attempts and stands eighth among MSU’s career leaders in stolen bases.
The Tigers, coached by first-year Auburn head coach John Pawlowski, had their lone midweek game, a Tuesday night matchup with South Alabama, rained out in Mobile, Ala. Despite being out-hit 49-24, Auburn took two of three games from visiting Vanderbilt to nail down its second league series of the year. The Tigers powered by an SEC-leading 58 home runs, 11 each by Joseph Sanders and outfielder third baseman Trent Mummey.
The weekend series matches the top two most-plunked teams in the SEC.
State leads the league with 45 HBPs while Auburn is second with 39.
The MSU-Auburn series marks the fourth straight for Bulldog pitching coach Butch Thompson but just his first with the Bulldogs. Thompson served as pitching coach for the Tigers the past three seasons prior to joining John Cohen's Mississippi State staff last summer.
Dudy Noble Field gates and ticket offices open two hours prior to each game this weekend.