Diamond Dogs Host No. 4 South Carolina In Friday Night SEC Opener
The SEC season-opening series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m., with MSU sophomore lefty Paul Maholm (2-1, 2.55) squaring off against USC senior lefty Gary Bell (4-0, 3.42). Maholm turned in a pair of strong eight-inning performances against South Carolina last spring, earning a win over USC in a 2-1 pitching duel in opening round competition at the 2001 SEC BaseballTournament.
Perhaps no Bulldog baseball rivalry has been more closely contested in recent years than the MSU-USC series. State owns a hard-fought 17-16 lead dating back to a first-ever meeting and 6-5 Gamecock win in Omaha, Neb., at the 1981 NCAA College World Series. Eight of the last nine and 10 of the last 12 meetings have been decided by one run, including five of last year's six duels. All totaled, 14 of the 33 games have been one-run white-knucklers.
USC claimed last year's regular-season series opener at Dudy Noble 6-2, with State rebounding to take the series with 4-3 and 8-7 wins. The teams met three more times in the 2001 SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., with MSU sandwiching 2-1 and 1-0 wins around a 7-6 South Carolina win.
Sophomore outfielder Steve Gendron and senior second baseman Chad Henry enter the series as the hottest-hitting Bulldogs. Gendron went 4-for-8 and Henry 3-for-7 in a pair of midweek games to extend their career-best and team season-best hitting streaks to nine games. Redshirt freshman Jon Mungle made his first career starts in left field and smacked his third and fourth home runs of the year in the two-game set at South Alabama. The Jaguars, with a week to go before opening their Sun Belt Conference schedule, registered 8-7 and 8-4 wins in the spring break series in Mobile.
South Carolina, the preseason pick of the league's coaches to win the 2002 SEC Eastern Division title, enters the weekend ranked third in the SEC in hitting (.357), team ERA (2.88) and first in fielding percentage (.978). The high-powered Gamecocks are averaging nearly 10 runs per game and enter the series riding a seven-game winning streak. USC leftfielder Garris Gonce has hit an SEC-leading nine home runs while first baseman Yaron Peters leads the conference in doubles (8) and RBI (34).
Due to scheduling conflicts with Mississippi State's participation in both the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament, Friday night's game will not be broadcast locally on radio. MSU's radio network scheduling will resume with Saturday's 2 p.m. game. The series concludes Sunday at 1:30 p.m.