Dogs Begin Second Half Of SEC Season Friday At Alabama
STARKVILLE, Miss. - After back-to-back SEC weekends at home, Mississippi State (20-17, 5-10 SEC) travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend to open the second half of its 2010 SEC baseball schedule with a three-game series against the Alabama Crimson Tide (22-15, 5-10 SEC).
Friday's series-opener at Sewell-Thomas Stadium is set for 6:30 p.m.
The series continues Saturday with a 4 p.m. contest and concludes with a 1:30 p.m. game Sunday. The radio broadcasts of all three games can be heard on the 14-station Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network.
State, Alabama and Kentucky (22-15, 5-10 SEC) begin the weekend tied for eighth place in the overall Southeastern Conference standings.
MSU enters the weekend having won four of its last five games, including a 27-4, 24-hit Tuesday night romp past Alcorn State. In the win, Ryan Duffy (.370), who posted a remarkable .618 batting average during the Bulldogs' just-concluded nine-game homestand, registered his sixth home run and second five-hit plate performance over the past nine games. Senior Jet Butler (.336) matched a career-high with four hits while senior first baseman Connor Powers (.407), the current SEC Player of the Week, drove in two runs and raised his SEC-leading RBI total to 55. Junior infielder Nick Vickerson (.324), a native of Tuscaloosa, enters the weekend series riding a team-leading eight-game hitting streak.
State's weekend pitching rotation remains unchanged this weekend, with sophomore righty Caleb Reed (0-3, 5.47) set to open Friday and freshmen Chris Stratton (4-3, 3.88) and Luke Bole (2-0, 6.92) set to open on the hill Saturday and Sunday.
The Bulldogs take a break from competition during exam week following the Alabama series and then host instate SEC rival Ole Miss in a three-game graduation weekend series Apr. 30-May 2 at Dudy Noble Field.