Diamond Dogs Open SEC Competition At Top-Ranked Vanderbilt
Friday's series-opener at Hawkins Field is set for 6 p.m. The teams meet again Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The radio broadcast of all three games will be carried on the 18-station MSU Baseball Radio Network as well as online on State's Maroon to the Max (www.MStateAthletics.com/m2mlive).
Vanderbilt, the first nationally-ranked opponent faced by Mississippi State in 2011, is ranked in the top three this week in the four national rankings for college baseball.
The Bulldogs matched a season-high for runs scored and pounded out 14 hits Wednesday night in Nashville with a 14-4 win over the Lipscomb Bisons. In that game, officially the first round game of the year for MSU, junior lefty Nick Routt drew the start and pitched into the fourth inning in his injury and weather-delayed season debut. Sophomore Luis Pollorena (2-0) followed Routt on the hill and earned the win in a season-longest 4.2 innings of mound duty. Senior Cody Freeman collected his third three-hit game of the year while Nick Vickerson belted his second home run and Jarrod Parks laced a double and a triple to highlight MSU's offense.
A pair of junior right-handers will square off in Friday's SEC opener. State's Devin Jones (2-2, 1.37) is set to make his fifth start of the campaign while Vanderbilt will counter with Sony Gray (4.0, 1.71), second in the SEC with 36 strikeouts. State sophomore Chris Stratton (3-0, 1.65), set for a Saturday start against Vanderbilt, has registered 32 strikeouts, third-most in the league.
Mississippi State holds a 61-37 lead in its baseball series with Vanderbilt. Over the past four years that series bulge by the Bulldogs has been trimmed by the Commodores, who have reeled off 10 consecutive wins over State and now hold the longest series winning streak against MSU by an SEC opponent.
The Bulldogs are paced at the plate by seniors Jarrod Parks and Cody Freeman, both entering league play with .404 batting marks. Parks and another senior, shortstop Jonathan Ogden (.328), share the team RBI lead with 18, while another senior, Nick Vickerson (.297), paces the SEC with 27 runs scored and ranks second in the league with 14 stolen bases in as many attempts.
Mississippi State returns to action at Dudy Noble Field Mar. 25-27 when the Bulldogs test SEC West rival Auburn to open State's 15-game, five-weekend SEC home schedule.