No. 23 Diamond Dogs Test Jacksonville State To Open 7-Game Homestand At Dudy Noble Field
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- With a successful season-first two-game road trip to Louisiana tucked away, Mississippi State (3-1-1) returns to Dudy Noble Field to host Jacksonville State (7-5) in a three-game weekend set that opens a seven-game homestand for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 23 in the NCBWA writer's poll and No. 27 by Collegiate Baseball, open the three-game set Friday at 4 p.m. The MSU-JSU series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
A pair of senior right-handers will be matched in Friday's series-opener -- MSU's Tanner Brock (1-0, 0.00) and JSU's Lucas McCollum (1-1, 4.05).
It will be a reunion weekend of sorts at Dudy Noble Field for Bulldog players and coaches. JSU is coached by former MSU assistant Jim Case, who served as State's primary recruiting coach during a four-year stint on Pat McMahon's State staff from 1998 to 2001. He launched his coaching career at MSU under coach Ron Polk as a graduate assistant from 1984 to 1986 and was named head coach at JSU during the 2001 campaign, replacing 31-year coaching veteran Rudy Abbott. Matt Ishee, also a member of MSU's 2001 coaching staff, serves as an assistant on Case's staff at the Jacksonville, Ala., school.
The Bulldogs have claimed all four previous meetings with the Gamecocks, twice in 1996 during coach Ron Polk's first term at MSU and twice last year (4-0, 7-1) in a weather-created doubleheader.
The Diamond Dogs enjoyed a successful seasonal road debut in chilly Louisiana during the midweek, posting a 14-7 win at Louisiana Tech Tuesday and earning a 6-5 win Wednesday at Louisiana-Monroe.
State erupted for eight runs in the seventh inning and pounded out a season-high 16 hits in registering the win at Tech (9-5). Matthew Maniscalco collected a career-high four hits and Jason Burkley added a career-high five RBI with a pair of home runs to spark the Bulldogs in Ruston. Jonathan Papelbon matched his career-high with seven strikeouts and allowed just two hits to earn the win in four innings of shutout relief pitching.
In the first start of his career, pitcher Chris Young registered an impressive complete-game performance on the mound in State's 6-5 win over the ULM Indians (3-6). It was the 50th career appearance for Young, who scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out six. Matthew Brinson gave MSU a 4-3 lead with a season-first solo home run in the seventh and Casey Long drove in two runs in the ninth.
For the weekend, Long went 5-for-6 with three doubles, Maniscalco 5-for-10 with 4 RBI and Burkley went 2-for-6 with three walks, two home runs, and 5 RBI for the Bulldogs, who hit .329 and committed but one error in the two-game road swing.
All three games of the series are scheduled to be broadcast on the flagship radio station for MSU sports, WFCA-FM (107.9), and live game stats are available online (www.MStateAthletics.com) for all of Mississippi State's home baseball games this season.