Diamond Dogs Meet Golden Eagles Tuesday In Pearl
Freshman Brandon Woodruff (0-1, 4.76) will open on the mound and make his third pitching start for Mississippi State, the designated home team in the neutral site game. Southern Miss will open with sophomore right-hander Boomer Scarborough (1-1, 3.38), making his ninth start of the season.
The game will be broadcast on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Network with live audio available online on a subscription basis, (www.HailState.com/hstvlive).
Both teams enter the midweek matchup buoyed by season-first conference series sweeps against teams from neighboring Tennessee. The Bulldogs bested the Tennessee Volunteers 2-1 (11 innings), 7-1 and 3-2 (14 innings) in a closely-contested Super Bulldog Weekend series at Dudy Noble Field. The Golden Eagles topped the University of Memphis in three tight battles at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, winning 2-1, 2-0, 2-1.
Pitching and defense were the strong suits for the Bulldogs last weekend when nine hurlers combined efforts to limit Tennessee to four runs and 20 hits over 34 innings and finish with a 1.06 earned run average for the three-game series.
SEC strikeouts co-leader Chris Stratton allowed but one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts in an impressive nine-inning, no-decision start in Thursday's nationally-televised (ESPNU) series-opener. Senior relief ace Caleb Reed held the Vols scoreless over the final two frames to earn his first win of the campaign.
Junior righty Kendall Graveman carded his SEC-leading second complete-game pitching performance as State clinched the series with a 7-1 win. Graveman matched a career-best with eight strikeouts and allowed only three pitches to leave the infield in a performance that netted him SEC Pitcher of the Week accolades.
Another Bulldog junior, lefty Luis Pollorena, who as a pinch-runner scored the winning run in Thursday's 2-1 walk-off win, silenced UT with one-hit pitching over the final three frames Saturday to earn his first win of the season in the finale.
The Bulldog defense committed but one error in 164 chances on the weekend, registered five double plays and retired five UT base-runners at home plate. State leads the SEC with 48 double plays turned.
Mississippi State leads the series 76-36 and has won four of the last five meetings in the series. State erased a 4-2 deficit to take a 5-4 win in last year's regular season matchup with USM at Trustmark Park. Later in the NCAA Atlanta Regional, Luis Pollorena and Caleb Reed combined for an eight-hit shutout as State prevailed 3-0.
MSU wraps up its April schedule this weekend at Dudy Noble Field hosting Ole Miss in a three-game set. All three games will be televised, with Friday's series-opener on SportSouth set for a 7 p.m. (CDT) start.