State Hosts Rebels In Televised Series At Dudy Noble Field
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State closes out its April slate and begins the stretch run of its 2010 SEC baseball schedule Friday night as the Bulldogs (20-20, 5-13 SEC) open a three-game weekend series against instate league rival Ole Miss (30-13, 11-7 SEC) at Dudy Noble Field.
First pitch for the opener, televised by FOX Sports Net South, is set for 7:06 p.m.
The graduation weekend series continues with a 6:36 p.m. contest Saturday (SportSouth- TV) and concludes with a 1:36 p.m. Sunday game (Comcast-TV). Fans are reminded that graduation ceremonies are scheduled for 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday in Humphrey Coliseum.
The radio broadcast of all three games in the series can be heard on the 14-station MSU Baseball Radio Network.
The Diamond Dogs will be looking to notch their second straight SEC home series win and put the brakes on a red-hot Rebel team while keeping alive hopes for a berth in the eight-team field of the 2010 SEC Baseball Tournament May 26-30 at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. State dropped a three-game series last weekend at Alabama that included a pair of come-from-behind Sunday wins by the Tide. Ole Miss, ranked as high as 14th nationally, registered three walk-off wins in their last four games and enters the weekend riding a league-best seven-game winning streak, a run that includes a series sweep of LSU last weekend in Oxford.
Senior lefty Tyler Whitney (0-1, 5.72) returns to State's weekend rotation, drawing his fourth start of the year and the 29th of his career in Friday's opener against the Rebels. Ole Miss will counter with junior lefty Drew Pomeranz (6-0, 1.90). The Bulldogs claimed last year's series two games to one in Oxford in John Cohen's first season as head coach at State, with Whitney earning the win in the 2009 series-opener. Pomeranz leads the SEC with 93 strikeouts while opponents to a league-best .161 batting average.
Junior outfielder Jaron Shepherd (.291) enters the series with a team-leading six-game hitting streak, having driven in 10 runs and hit at a .429 clip over the span. Bulldog first baseman Connor Powers (.399) continues to rank near the top of the league in most of the offensive statistical categories. Powers leads the conference in RBI (60) and slugging percentage (.764), ranks second in total bases (113) and doubles (16), fourth in on-base percentage (.503), fifth in walks (30), tied for fifth in home runs (12) and sixth in batting average (.399). He needs one more RBI to tie former MSU and MLB great Will Clark for seventh among State's all-time career RBI leaders.
A pair of freshmen, right-hander Chris Stratton (4-3, 4.97) and lefty Luke Bole (2-1, 6.89) are set to open on the mound for State Saturday and Sunday. Stratton, who tossed a staff-first complete-game two week's ago in a Super Bulldog Weekend against Tennessee, leads the State staff with 53.1 innings pitched and 51 strikeouts. That Saturday game drew 11,089 to Dudy Noble Field, the largest actual attendance for an SEC game this spring.
The Bulldogs travel to Pearl, Miss., next week for a pair of midweek games. State takes on Jackson State Tuesday at 7:05 and Southern Miss at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Trustmark Park.