Diamond Dogs Host Delta Devils Wednesday Night In Non-Conference Home Finale At Dudy Noble Field
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State closes out the non-conference portion of its 2002 home schedule Wednesday night, entertaining the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Dudy Noble Field.
The MSU-MVSU game was originally scheduled but cancelled due to weather on March 20. Season ticket holders should use the original game ticket (Game 14) for admission to the game.
The Bulldogs (27-19-1) will open with senior right-hander Ryan Carroll (2-0, 4.37) on the mound. The Delta Devils (10-38) are expected to start junior righty Josh Hailey (3-6, 6.79). Carroll picked up his first career win in MSU's previous meeting with MVSU this season, an 11-1 win on April 10. Carroll and seven other MSU pitchers combined for a two-hitter. MSU rightfielder Enrico Jones doubled, homered and drove in a career-high five runs in the game.
Mississippi State travels to Tuscaloosa, Ala., this weekend for a three-game SEC Western Division series against league-leading and fourth-ranked Alabama (40-9, 17-7). The series opens Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Sewell-thomas Stadium.
With two weekend's of league competition remaining, State's magic number for clinching its league-leading 16th consecutive SEC Tournament berth is four. A combination of wins by MSU (11-12 SEC) and losses by the ninth-place team, either Arkansas (8-13 SEC) or Tennessee (9-15 SEC) would advance the Bulldogs to the double-elimination tournament May 22-26 in Hoover, Ala. The Bulldogs enter the ninth weekend of league competition 5-1/2 games out o first place and three games out of second place in the SEC West.