Bulldogs Get First Road Test Friday Against Winthrop
Sophomore right-hander Aaron Weatherford (2-0, 2.08) will open on the hill for the Bulldogs, while Winthrop head coach and former MSU assistant Joe Hudak is expected to open with sophomore righty Alex Wilson (0-1, 2.59).
The Bulldogs enter the weekend with an SEC-leading .397 team batting average. Junior catcher Edward Easley (.571) sports the SEC's top individual batting average, while junior first baseman Mitch Moreland(.472) ranks third in the SEC and freshman shortstop Brandon Turner(.457) fifth. Easley and Moreland have hit safely in all nine games while Easley, Turner and senior designated hitter Brian LaNinfa (.361) share the team lead with 13 RBI each.
All four teams entered in the tournament competed in the 2006 NCAA Baseball Tournament, and two of the three teams MSU faces are skippered by former Mississippi State assistant coaches. In addition to Winthrop, coached by Hudak, Baylor is led by former State staffer Steve Smith, and two of his assistants, Mitch Thompson and Steve Johnigan, previously served on Ron Polk's coaching staff at State.
The three-game weekend competition at Baylor begins an 11-day, eight-game road trip for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs travel to the Dallas area for midweek games with Texas-Arlington and Dallas Baptist and then travel to Gainesville, Fla.,to open SEC competition March 16-18 with three games at Florida.
The radio broadcasts of all Mississippi State baseball games are carried on WFCA-FM (107.9), the flagship station of MSU Athletics, while Saturday's MSU-Baylor game will be heard on nearly two dozen stations statewide on the MSU Baseball Radio Network.