Diamond Dogs Test UAB Tuesday At Regions Park
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State (16-15) looks to extend a 14-game series win streak Tuesday night when the Bulldogs take on the UAB Blazers (16-13) in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.
State claimed an 8-4 win over UAB March 18 in Starkville, advancing its all-time lead in the series to 29-9.
Junior right-hander Ricky Bowen (1-1, 7.47), will open on the hill for the Bulldogs.
Regions Park, the home of the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox’ Class AA Southern League franchise, is the second of three minor league parks on MSU’s 2009 schedule. State has played one of its two games scheduled for Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., the home of Atlanta’s Class AA Mississippi Braves. State plays its final regular season non-conference road game next month, taking on the University of Memphis at AutoZone Park, home to the Memphis Redbirds, the Class AAA Pacific Coast League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Junior third baseman Russ Sneed (.367) enters the week with the team’s top batting average and a team-leading 36 hits. Junior first baseman Connor Powers (.321) went 7-for-13 with three home runs and six RBI in last weekend’s three-game series against Auburn and leads the club with eight home runs and 33 RBI. Over the past five games senior outfielder Grant Hogue (.338) has gone 14-for-22 (.636) with five stolen bases, while sophomore shortstop Ryan Powers (.278) enters the week riding an eight-game hitting streak.
State rode the complete-game pitching performance of freshman Nick Routt (4-1, 2.83) to an 8-3 Saturday win over Auburn at Dudy Noble Field. En route to notching his third straight complete-game pitching performance, Routt recorded a personal-best and staff season-high 12 strikeouts and blanked Auburn in eight of his nine innings. The Tigers rallied to claim the other two games of the series, 9-8 and 12-10.
The Blazers dropped all three games of last weekend’s Conference USA series to 16th-ranked East Carolina. UAB, coached by former MSU assistant Brian Shoop, is led at the plate by catcher/DH Digger Towe (.402, 38 RBI) and outfielder Cody McMurry (.371, nine HR, 33 RBI).
First baseman Luke Stewart (.284) belted his ninth and 10th home runs of the year in the series.
The Bulldogs close out the week with four consecutive televised games.
State hosts instate rival Southern Miss Wednesday (6:36 p.m.) in a game televised by Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS). Former Bulldog and Major League pitching great Jay Powell will team with CSS regular Matt Stewart in the broadcast booth. All three games of this weekend’s MSU-Tennessee series in Knoxville, Tenn., will be broadcast live by SportsSouth.