No. 11 Diamond Dogs Test Marist Friday In 2006 Season Opener
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The 11th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs raise the curtains on their 2006 baseball season Friday afternoon when MSU entertains defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion and first-time foe Marist in a 4 p.m. contest at Dudy Noble Field. Friday's season-opener launches a 32-game home schedule and an 11-game homestand for the Bulldogs.
The season-opener marks the 40th year for baseball at the current Dudy Noble Field site and Ron Polk's 27th season as Mississippi State head coach. Polk enters the season, his 33rd as a collegiate head baseball coach, with 1,275 wins, sixth-most among active NCAA Division I baseball coaches and 10th-most among the sports all-time coaches.
Jay Powell, a three-year standout relief pitcher at Mississippi State and an 11-year veteran of Major League Baseball, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
State returns 18 lettermen and all but one starting position player from its 2005 edition that posted a 42-22 record and captured its sixth Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship.
A pair of senior lefties are set to square off in Friday's series-opener between the Bulldogs and the Red Foxes. Brooks Dunn, the winning pitcher in MSU's SEC Tournament championship-clinching 4-1 win over Mississippi, draws starting mound duty for the Bulldogs. The Birmingham, Ala., product posted a 6-3 record with a 4.50 ERA a year ago. Marist will counter with Jonathan Smith, who registered a 7-2 record and 4.68 earned run average in 2005.
Junior righty Josh Johnson (5-0, 4.03) and sophomore righty John Lalor (5-0, 3.22) are the scheduled Saturday and Sunday starters for Mississippi State.
Marist, coached by first-year head coach Dennis Healy, will be playing the first three games of its season-opening run of 18 straight road games at Dudy Noble Field. The Poughkeepsie, N.Y., team captured its fourth MAAC conference title in six years last season, posting a 33-21 record and advancing to its fifth NCAA regional tournament berth. The Red Foxes competed in the NCAA Baton Rouge, La., Regional hosted last May by LSU.
The season-opening series continues Saturday with a Noon game and concludes Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. contest. The radio broadcast of all three games featuring the play-by-play of veteran sportscaster Jim Ellis will be carried on WFCA-FM (107.9), the flagship station of the MSU Baseball Radio Network. The games will also be available via live video streaming on "Maroon to the Max", the premium portion of the Mississippi State Athletic Department web site (www.MStateAthletics.com).