Sunday Notes
WEEKLY BASEBALL UPDATE (Sunday, May 18)
Overall record: 38-16-1 (home: 25-8-1, away: 13-7, neutral: 0-1)
SEC record: 17-12 (home: 8-6, away: 9-6)
Last week's results: 4-1
Tuesday (May 13) --- MSU 13, Southeastern Louisiana 2 (Starkville, Miss.)
Tuesday (May 13) --- MSU 9, Winthrop University 3 (Starkville, Miss.)
Wednesday (May 14) --- MSU vs. Winthrop University -- cancelled by rain
Friday (May 16) --- MSU 11, Alabama 8 (Starkville, Miss.)
Saturday (May 17) --- Alabama 15, MSU 7 (Starkville, Miss.)
Sunday (May 18) --- MSU 9, Alabama 1 (Starkville, Miss.)
This week's schedule:
SEC Tournament May 21-25 @ Hoover, Ala.
Wednesday (May 21) --- No. 4 seed MSU vs. No. 5 seed Mississippi (5 p.m. CDT)
Thursday (May 22) --- Opponent TBA (1 p.m. or 8 p.m.)
MSU notes: Mississippi State closed out its 2003 regular-season schedule with a successful run last week, winning four of five games including a 2-of-3 showing against longtime SEC West rival Alabama. State warmed up at the plate over the final five days, hitting at a .372 clip while averaging just under 10 runs a game. Leading the way is fast-finishing junior DH/pitcher Robby Goodson (.368). Goodson went 10-for-20 (.500) with two doubles, a career-first triple, a season-first home run and 13 RBI. He entered the week with seven RBI. Fast finishes are nothing new for the Vicksburg, Miss., slugger, who closed out his sophomore campaign with an 11-game hitting streak and the team's top batting average, is back in the lead as MSU enters postseason play ... Two other Bulldogs, shortstop Matthew Maniscalco (.346) and third baseman Steve Gendron (.330) turned in 10-hit weeks. The Bulldogs finished with the SEC's best overall winning percentage (.700) ... Mississippi State travels to the Hoover Met for its 17th straight SEC Baseball Tournament, meeting instate SEC rival Mississippi in Wednesday's 5 p.m. opening round matchup. This will be Bulldog skipper Ron Polk's 22nd SEC Tournament and 20th with MSU since the tourney was started in 1977 ... Junior lefty Paul Maholm (8-2, 2.53) notched his eighth win against two losses with a Friday night decision against Alabama. In that game Maholm matched a season-high with 10 strikeouts ... Senior Jacob Blakeney (3-0, 5.18) worked a career-longest eight innings and matched a career-high with six strikeouts in MSU's 9-3 midweek win over Big South Conference-leading Winthrop ... Junior righty Jeff Lacher (6-0, 3.45) turned in his third straight 7-inning performance as a starter in Sunday's 9-1 series-clinching win over Alabama ... The Bulldogs got solid play for their defense last week, committing just two errors while fielding at a .990 clip. State tied a school record by turning five double plays in a 13-2 win over Southeastern Louisiana.
MSU TEAM STATS
Batting average: .305 Earned run average: 3.37 Fielding percentage: .977
MSU INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Batting average: DH -Robby Goodson RBI: 1B-Matthew Brinson (45) Home runs: 1B-Matthew Brinson (8), LF-Jon Mungle (7), Matthew Maniscalco (7) Pitching leaders: Paul Maholm (8-2, 2.53, 92 K, 92.2 IP), Jonathan Papelbon (6-2, 7 Sv, 1.74, 50 K)