Dogs Open Key SEC Home Series Friday Against No. 5 LSU
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Two of the SEC's top three baseball teams resume their long-running rivalry in Starkville this weekend when the 16th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs (31-12-1, 12-8 SEC) take on the SEC-leading and fifth-ranked Louisiana State Tigers (31-14-1, 15-5-1 SEC) in a key three-game conference series. The series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m., with MSU ace lefty Paul Maholm (6-2, 2.34) set to battle LSU freshman righty Justin Meier (5-2, 2.34).
With three weekends of league competition remaining, Mississippi State trails LSU by three games and second place Auburn (32-13, 13-8 SEC) by a half-game. After two straight weekends of conference play on the road, Mississippi State concludes its SEC slate playing two of its final three SEC opponents at home. Next weekend (May 9-11) State travels to SEC East foe Georgia for its final regular season road competition of the year. MSU then entertains longtime SEC West rival Alabama (May 16-18) on the final weekend of league competition.
The teams with the eight best SEC winning percentages advance to the two-bracketed 2003 SEC Baseball Tournament May 21-25 at the Hoover Met near Birmingham, Ala. Divisional champions are seeded first in opposite brackets of the double-elimination event.
Two of this weekend's three games will be televised. FOX Sports Net South/SEC-TV will carry the Saturday game as the SEC TV Game of the Week while Louisiana-based Jumbo Sports-TV will televise Sunday's series finale. Saturday's 3 p.m. game will include a pregame salute to former MSU and Boston Red Sox pitcher David "Boo" Ferriss, who is having his Mississippi State jersey retired.
Including Wednesday night's 5-4 win over Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State is 3-0-1 against Louisiana teams this season. On March 11-12 in New Orleans State swept a pair of games at UNO (7-2, 9-4). The lone blemish on that worksheet is a rain-produced 5-5, six-inning tie with visiting Louisiana Tech on March 5.
A pair of Matthews pace the Bulldogs at the plate heading into the series. Senior shortstop Matthew Maniscalco is hitting at a team-leading .351 clip with 65 hits, 19 for extra-bases, and 31 RBI. Junior first baseman, riding a season and career-best 12-game hitting streak, is hitting .337 with a team-best 34 RBI.
Nine of the Diamond Dogs' final 12 games are scheduled at Dudy Noble Field. In addition to SEC Western Division rivals LSU and Alabama, the Bulldogs take on Southeastern Louisiana (May 13, 3 p.m.) and Winthrop (May 13-14, 6:30 p.m.).