Diamond Dogs Host Sacred Heart In Final Non-SEC Weekend Series
Rain zapped Mississippi State's scheduled Tuesday meeting with Mississippi Valley State and Dudy Noble Field, while Wednesday night in Birmingham, Ala., the Bulldogs' first scheduled road game of the campaign fell victim to in-game foul weather. The game was suspended in the sixth inning with UAB holding a 4-3 edge. It will be completed in Birmingham at a later date this season. The MSU-MVSU rainout has been rescheduled as part of a 4 p.m. day/night doubleheader May 10 at Dudy Noble Field.
Sacred Heart, located in Fairfield, Conn., and a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC), becomes the fourth of five first-time opponents faced by the 2011 Diamond Dogs. The Pioneers close out an eight-game swing to Louisiana and Mississippi with this weekend's series at Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium. SHU split a four-game set at Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond last weekend and dropped a 6-1 Wednesday night decision at LSU.
Junior right-hander Devin Jones (1-2, 1.86) of Eupora, Miss., is slated to make his fourth Friday start of the season. He'll work opposite Sacred Heart sophomore righty Troy Scribner (2-0, 4.50).
Both the Friday and Saturday games of the series have game times adjusted to accommodate fans following the exploits of the Basketball Bulldogs in this weekend's SEC Basketball Tournament in Atlanta, Ga. First pitch for Saturday's MSU-SHU baseball game is set for 6 p.m.
Senior catcher Cody Freeman (.421), eighth in the SEC in hitting heading into the weekend, leads the club with a six-game hitting streak. Shortstop Jonathan Ogden (.400) ended his team season-longest seven-game hitting streak last weekend. Freshman outfielder C.T. Bradford (.340), who last week became the 15th Bulldog to pitch this season, leads the Bulldogs at the plate with seven multi-hit games. Ogden, Bradford, along with seniors Jarrod Parks (.400) and Nick Vickerson (.261) have drawn starts in each of MSU's first 13 games. Parks, who leads the team in hits (18) and RBI (15), has hit safely in 11 of 13 games, while Vickerson ranks second in the SEC with 19 runs scored and nine stolen bases.
Sophomore right-hander Chris Stratton (3-0, 0.44), who with 27 strikeouts shares the early SEC lead, is set to pitch for State in Saturday's 6 p.m. contest while freshman Evan Mitchell (3-0, 2.45) is expected to open on the hill in Sunday's 1:30 p.m. series finale. MSU begins the weekend sporting a 2.54 staff earned run average, second-best in the SEC.
Next Tuesday the Bulldogs host Eastern Illinois in a 6:30 p.m. contest. State then ventures on to Nashville, Tenn., testing Lipscomb University Wednesday night and opening SEC competition with a three-game weekend series at No. 2 Vanderbilt.