State Hosts UKats In Super Bulldog Weekend Baseball Series
The series opens with a 6:30 p.m. game Friday, with MSU sophomore right-hander Aaron Weatherford (3-1, 4.83) matched with UK lefty Chris Rusin (3-1, 4.63). The radio broadcast of all three games will be carried on the statewide MSU Baseball Radio Network. Subscribers to "Maroon to the Max," the premium extension of the MSU Athletics Department website www.MStateAthletics.com, can follow the action with live audio/video streaming of the games.
The Bulldogs posted a pair of hard-fought midweek wins (9-8, 11-9) over the University of Memphis while the Wildcats, thanks to a midweek rainout, have not played since taking two games of last weekend's three-game series at LSU. The third game of the series ended in a tie.
MSU, after leading the SEC in hitting for four weeks, enters the weekend with a .356 team batting average, just behind the league-leading pace set by the Wildcats (.357). Both teams have four players ranked among the league's top 10 in hitting. UK outfielder Mike Brown leads the league with a .482 batting average. MSU junior catcher Edward Easley, last week's SEC-leader at the plate, is third in the league with a .422 batting average.
Kentucky is the eighth team faced by Mississippi State during the first third of the season whose head coach --- former MSU standout John Cohen, either played for or coached under Ron Polk at Mississippi State.