Mississippi State releases 2008 schedule

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Twenty-two games against 2007 NCAA Tournament participants and a 31-game slate of contests at Dudy Noble Field highlight Mississippi State University’s 56-game baseball schedule for 2008.

Mississippi State opens its 118th season of baseball and veteran skipper Ron Polk’s 29th coaching campaign with the Bulldogs Feb. 22-24 in Jacksonville, Fla., with a three-game road series against first-time foe North Florida.

State ushers in its 31-game 2008 home schedule February 26 against UAB, the first game of a season-longest 14-game homestand for the Diamond Dogs. During that stretch State hosts another first-time foe, Air Force, in a three-game series and meets Big 12 Conference power Baylor in the three-game Cadence Bank Challenge. MSU wraps up the early-season run of home games and launches SEC competition Mar. 14-16 with a three-game series against instate league rival Ole Miss.

Baylor is the first of eight teams on MSU’s 2008 schedule that advanced to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Austin Peay State University, Memphis and Southern Miss along with SEC foes Arkansas, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and South Carolina also reached the 64-team field of the NCAA Tournament last season. Three of those opponents (Arkansas, Ole Miss and South Carolina) advanced to NCAA Super Regional competition.

Other opponents scheduled to visit Dudy Noble Field in the coming season are Arkansas-Little Rock, Memphis and South Alabama along with SEC rivals Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. The MSU-Georgia baseball series March 28-30 anchors MSU’s annual spring homecoming celebration, Super Bulldog Weekend.

The Bulldogs are scheduled to make one appearance in 2008 at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., taking on Ole Miss Apr. 15 in the second annual Governor’s Cup game.

Two Mississippi State baseball games have been selected for live broadcast by the SEC’s Regional Sports Network (RSN) as part of the SEC game of the week television series shown on FOX Sports Net South. MSU’s May 10 game at LSU and a regular season-ending May 17 home matchup with Arkansas are part of the league’s eight-game TV package.

MSU returns 20 letter-winners and 14 players who drew starts on the 2007 State team that finished with a 38-22 record and advanced to the NCAA College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

2008 MSU schedule

North Florida releases 2008 schedule

The North Florida Ospreys have put out a tentative 2008 schedule. They will host SEC power Mississippi State on opening night February 22nd which starts a three game set. They will open up Atlantic Sun play the next weekend when they head down to Florida Gulf Coast College for a three game set. The rest of the schedule is available here.

2008 Air Force Schedule Released

The Air Force Academy has posted the 2008 schedule on their website. The Academy will open the season in the Service Academies Spring Classic with Navy and Memphis joining them from February 22nd-24th. They will be making a trip to Mississippi State for a three game set at the end of February. The Falcons will also take part in the Palm Beach Papa John's Challenge in Palm Beach, FL but the participants are not listed yet. The most interesting thing on the schedule is on April 18th-20th when they have games listed against UNC or UVSC in Colorado Springs. I wonder if this means that North Carolina is planning on heading to Air Force this year or is this a different UNC as in Northern Colorado. I suspect that it is Northern Colorado but the Falcons fans can hope that it is the two time CWS finalist North Carolina. The full schedule is available here.

College Baseball In Jeopardy!

This letter was written by Coach Polk of Mississippi State University. Coach Polk has been a supporter of College Baseball during his long coaching career. This letter is very lengthy but very detail. Please take the time to read it and leave your comments.

Allow me to first of all apologize for the extreme length of this letter, but I deem it necessary to fully express my thoughts which are reflective of the concerns of a majority of our college baseball coaches (NCAA-I), our student-athletes, their respective family members, and those that care about the value and worth of intercollegiate baseball.

All educators, which includes coaches, must first gain the attention of those with whom they are communicating so they are fully aware who the communicator is and what credentials that person possesses.

My name is Ron Polk, and I am the head baseball coach at Mississippi State University which is a member of the Southeastern Conference. As you read this letter, you will quickly ascertain that my grammar is not the best, nor is my sentence structure and punctuation. For, I am just a baseball coach.

Scout.com

Auburn releases 2008 schedule

The Auburn Tigers have released their 2008 schedule which opens on Febraury 22nd when East Tennennsee State visits Auburn for a four game set. The Tigers will then face Florida State in a four game series starting on Feb. 28th and 29th before heading to Tallhassee to play two more games against the Seminoles. They will play a full SEC schedule which is highlighted by visits from South Carolina and Mississippi State. They will also have a two tough three game series at Vanderbilt on April 18th-20th and Alabama on April 25th-27th. The full schedule is available here.

NCAA Loosens Scholarship Minimum

Much ado was made of the NCAA's proposed restriction that required each scholarship player to receive no less than 1/3rd of a scholarship. Legendary Mississippi State coach Ron Polk was, purportedly, so displeased with the rule that he was prepared to walk away from the game. Well, influence from folks like Polk forced the NCAA to blink... at least one eye.

As reported by many, including Mike Knobler of the AJC, the NCAA has reduced the restrictions and will only require that each scholarship player receive 1/4th of a scholarship. Furthermore, certain non-athletic aid will be permitted to count toward the 25% minimum grant.

The NCAA stood by its recent ban on text messaging.

Moreland signs with Rangers

Mitch Moreland of Mississippi State has decided to sign with the Texas Rangers according to a report in The Clarion-Ledger. Moreland hit .343 with 10 homers and 62 RBI for the Bulldogs in 2007. The full article is available by clicking here.

Top 5 Coaching jobs of 2007

SeBaseball has released a list of the top five coaching jobs of 2007. The list is led by Louisville Head Coach Dan McDonnell to their first trip to the CWS in the team's history. They also name UC-Irvine's Dave Serrano, Mississippi State's Ron Polk, North Carolina's Mike Fox, and Missouri's Tim Jamieson. The full article is available here.

MSU's Easley wins Johnny Bench Award

WICHITA, KAN. — Edward Easley will fly to Arizona today.

He'll sign a contract, and when the ink dries, he will be a professional baseball player in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

In case the former Mississippi State catcher needs any leverage for negotiating a signing bonus, he got it Wednesday when he won the Johnny Bench Award as the top catcher in college baseball.

"It is, for a fact, the most exciting news I've ever received in my life," said Easley, who helped lead MSU to the College World Series earlier this month. "Catching is what I love to do. It's what I love to do to help my team win. To be a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award is just a great honor, and to finally be picked is just a great honor."

Complete story

UofL batters way up in rout of Bulldogs

OMAHA, Neb. -- With the possibility of its season coming to an end, the University of Louisville baseball team came out swinging again, rolling 12-4 over Mississippi State in a losers' bracket game of the College World Series.

The Cardinals scored eight runs in the first four innings, scored in six of nine innings, hit four home runs and had eight players record at least one hit.

And then there was starting pitcher Justin Marks. The Big East Freshman of the Year turned in a gutsy performance before 18,187 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Complete story

No joy in Omaha for Mississippi State

OMAHA, NEB. — Some 24 hours prior to Sunday's game, Chad Crosswhite was the life of the party.

At a Saturday afternoon picnic in nearby Papillion, he had teammates rolling with his descriptions of them, one by one. He is, after all, the team comedian.

But oh, what a difference a day makes.

The sophomore right-hander spoke softly and shook his head Sunday afternoon, moments after Louisville finished its 12-4 win over Mississippi State in a College World Series elimination game in front of an announced 18,187 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Crosswhite was disappointed in himself for lasting just 2 1/3 innings, giving up five runs and hanging more pitches over the plate than he cared to remember.

"Well, there's not very much to say," Crosswhite said, when asked to describe his outing. "I was disappointed in myself. It's not the way you wanted to start off a game you want to win."

Complete story

CWS Day 1 Recap

Rice 15 Louisville 10

The Louisville Cardinals jumped out to an early 5-0 victory but the Rice Owls were able to come back and win a wild game 15-10. Aaron Luna led the Owls by going 2-4 with three RBI. Rice reliever Bobby Bramhall pitched the final two innings without giving up a run to get the victory and up his record to 7-2. Louisville was led on offense by Logan Johnson who picked up two hits while driving in three runs. Cardinals closer Trystan Magnuson got rocked in his only inning of work as he let up six runs as he got the loss to drop his record to 3-3. Louisville will play an elimination game on Sunday against Mississippi State at 2 pm while Rice will play North Carolina at 7 pm.

Rice Recap
Louisville Recap
SEBaseball Recap

UNC 8 Mississippi State 5

The North Carolina Tar Heels erased a 4-0 deficit with eight runs in the fourth and sixth innings combined as the Tar Heels picked up a 8-5 victory over Mississippi State. UNC starter Robert Woodard struggled in only 1.2 innings as he let up four runs on seven hits. Adam Warren relieved Woodard and gave the Tar Heels 4.1 scoreless innings while only giving up three hits and a walk. Warren's record goes to 11-0. Andrew Carignan pitched the final inning to get his 16th save of the year. Chad Flack led the UNC offense by going 3-4 with a RBI. Justin Pigott started for the Bulldogs as he gave up six runs in 5.1 innings as he got the loss to put his record at 7-7. Mitch Moreland led the Bulldogs offense by going 2-4 with a homer. UNC plays Rice on Sunday at 7 pm and Mississippi State plays Louisville at 2 pm.

UNC Recap
Mississippi State Recap
SEBaseball.com Recap

Mississippi State: CWS Notebook

OMAHA, NEB. — The move to flip-flop starting pitchers for the first two games of the College World Series was done to help out both pitchers and his team, Mississippi State coach Ron Polk said.

Polk thinks Justin Pigott, a left-hander who thrives on location and movement, will be more successful tonight against a North Carolina team that will bat four or five left-handers.

He also thinks Chad Crosswhite, a hard-throwing right-hander, will benefit the team against Rice or Louisville, which MSU will play Sunday.

Pigott thinks the key for him will be getting ahead in counts against the Tar Heels.

"Get offspeed early in the counts, they swing early," he said.

CWS Notebook

Mississippi State not yet satisfied

OMAHA, NEB. — Joseph McCaskill and Connor Powers sat side-by-side in red seats Thursday morning at Rosenblatt Stadium, observing and soaking in the sun-drenched spectacle all around them.

The spartan concourses crawled with fans, most of them of the four feet-tall variety, armed with Sharpies and all sorts of things to sign. A cacophony of pings was the backdrop, as the Carolina blue-clad players took their cuts framed in green grass.

In front, a huge Jumbotron. Behind, the famed press box that rises up on old-school steel girders. All around, the sights and smells of college baseball's most famed venue.

This, after all, is Omaha. And State (38-20) is here, playing North Carolina (53-13) today at 6 p.m. in an opening-round College World Series game.

Complete story

CWS Preview: Mississippi State

The Mississippi State Bulldogs (41-23) head to Omaha with a perfect record in the NCAA Tournament. They opened the tournament in the Tallahassee Regional with victories over Stetson (6-3) and defeated the host Florida State twice by scores of 3-0 and 9-4. The Bulldogs followed that up by heading home to host the Clemson Tigers in which they swept the Tigers behind a solid offense with victories of 8-6 and 8-5. Mississippi State is led by head coach Ron Polk who is making his sixth appearance with Mississippi State in Omaha and his eighth in his glorious 34 year career. Mississippi State is led by a solid offense which is headlined by Brandon Turner. He is hitting .397 on the year. Edward Easley has hit a team leading 12 homers on the year. Justin Pigott leads the pitching staff as he shut down the FSU offense for seven innings in the 3-0 shutout victory in the NCAA Regionals and pitched six effective innings in the Super Regional clincher over Clemson. Aaron Weatherford has become the shut down closer for the Bulldogs in the NCAA tournament as he has a season ERA of 3.20. The Bulldogs will be a tough out in Omaha behind the strong hitting that they possess and they have the genius coaching of Ron Polk on the bench.

MSU CWS Notes

About-face sends Mississippi State to Omaha

STARKVILLE — In the middle of Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs leapt one on the other, piling near the pitcher's mound as 13,715 fans screamed.

A week earlier, they were in their hotel rooms, putting on uniforms, readying to face the hot-hitting No. 6 national seed Florida State and its ace pitcher, Bryan Henry.

They had beaten Stetson, yes. But to much of the outside world, the Bulldogs were still an unknown, a team of question marks that ended the year losing eight of 10.

Which makes the celebration, the trip to the College World Series, all the more remarkable for its dizzying ascent. Consider what the Bulldogs did in a week's time - or more precisely, six days, 20 hours, 22 minutes:

Complete story

Mississippi State advances to CWS

The Mississippi State Bulldogs advanced to the College World Series with an 8-5 victory over Clemson which clinched the sweep for MSU. The Bulldogs used a four run second inning in which they got four hits and took advantage of a Tiger error to take control of the game with a 5-2 lead. St. Louis Cardinal second round draft pick David Kopp started for the Tigers but was lit up for five runs (two earned) in 1.2 innings. He ended up getting credited with the loss to end his season with a 6-3 record. Bulldog starter Justin Pigott got the start and went six innings while giving up five runs (four earned) to up his record to 7-6. Mitch Moreland was able to get the final two outs of the game with the tying run up to bat to get his second save of the season. Clemson ends the season with a 41-23 and the Bulldogs will head to Omaha to take part in the College World Series.

Mississippi State Recap
Clemson Recap

Mississippi State takes Game 1

The Mississippi State Bulldogs picked up an 8-6 victory over the Clemson Tigers in the opening game of their Super Regional match-up. The Tigers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning after Wilson Boyd led off the inning by reaching on an error by Jet Butler. Boyd was put in motion on the basepaths as Marquez Smith hit the ball where the second base would have been to put runners on the corners with no outs. Andy D'Alessio then proceeded to single to center to drive home Boyd and put runners on the corners again. Taylor Harbin then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give the Tigers the 2-0 lead. Mississippi State then responded in the fifth inning with a two run homer from Connor Powers to tie the game at 2. In the top of the sixth inning, Marquez Smith got a lead-off walk and brought home on a homer from Andy D'Alessio to give the Tigers the 4-2 lead but the Tigers were not done as they tacked on another run to give them a 5-2 lead after 5.5 innings. The Bulldogs would come right back with a big rally in the bottom of the sixth which was started by a lead-off double by Joseph McCaskill. He was brought home by Edward Easley on a single to left field. Mitch Moreland then hit a two run homer to center field to tie the game at 5. Brandon Turner would follow with a double in the left-center gap which was followed by an error by J.D. Burgess putting runners on first and third. The Tigers would finally take out starter Daniel Moskos for Stephen Clyne. He promptly got Russ Sneed to hit into a double play which allowed the lead runner to score and give the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead. The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh on three hits as the Bulldogs led 8-5. Doug Hogan hit a homer in the top of the eighth to get the Tigers within two runs but they would not get closer.

The teams will be back in action at noon on Saturday.

Mississippi State Recap
Clemson Recap

Super Regional Preview: Clemson at MSU

The Clemson Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs will meet with a berth in the College World Series on the line. The games will be played in Starkville Mississippi at Dudy Noble Field, Polk-Dement Stadium starting on Friday at 12 pm on ESPN, Saturday at 12 pm on ESPN 2, and Sunday at 1 pm also on ESPN.

Clemson (41-21)

The Clemson Tigers went to the Myrtle Beach Regional and had a perfect weekend after defeating St. John's 3-2, Coastal Carolina in the winner's bracket 11-8, and played Coastal Carolina again in the Regional Championship in which they beat them again 15-3. The Tigers are led by head coach Jack Leggett who is 649-280 in his 14 seasons at Clemson. He was also the head coach at Western Carolina for nine years and Vermont for five seasons. His career record at all schools combined is 1026-570. The Tigers offense is led by catcher Doug Hogan who is hitting .339 for the season which is top on the team. Andy D'Alessio leads the Tigers with 16 homers on the season. Daniel Moskos leads the pitching staff as he made the transition from closer to the starting rotation in the middle of the season. He has only a 3-5 record with a 2.91 ERA. Ryan Hinson (6-2, 2.61 ERA) and David Kopp (6-2, 3.57 ERA) round out the rotation with D.J. Mitchell (5-0, 3.27 ERA) as a solid fourth starter. The Tigers have only said that Daniel Moskos will start Game 1.

Clemson Tourney Notes
Clemson Season Stats

Mississippi State (36-20)

The Bulldogs were the champions on the Tallahassee Regional after defeating Stetson 6-3, Florida State 3-0, and in the Regional Championship defeated the Seminoles again this time 9-4. The Bulldogs are led by legendary head coach Ron Polk who has been with Mississippi State for 28 years in two different stints. He has accumulated an 1,114-555-2 all-time record at MSU and has a career record of 1,348-667-2 with stints at Georgia and Georgia Southern included. The Bulldogs offense is led by Brandon Turner who is hitting .400 in 51 games. Edward Easley is second on the team with a .367 batting average while leading the team with 12 homers. The Bulldog pitching staff is led by lefty Justin Pigott who pitched seven innings while only giving up three hits in the 3-0 victory over the Seminoles. He has a 6-6 record with a 4.31 ERA. Chad Crosswhite will start the opening game of the Super Regional with his 8-4 record with a 4.16 ERA. Aaron Weatherford picked up a save last weekend against FSU as he has four saves on the season with a 3.34 ERA.

Mississippi State Series Notes
Mississippi State Season Stats

Pitching Match-ups

Friday: CU Daniel Moskos (3-5, 2.91 ERA) vs MSU Chad Crosswhite (8-4, 4.16 ERA)
Saturday: CU TBA vs MSU Justin Pigott (6-5, 4.31 ERA)
Sunday: CU TBA vs MSU TBA

The CBB predicts that Clemson takes the Super Regional in three games behind a solid weekend from Andy D'Alessio.

Bulldogs ready to host Super Regional

The next step on Mississippi State's road to Omaha will be in Starkville.

The Bulldogs learned late Monday night that they'll host a best-of-three Super Regional against Clemson at Dudy Noble Field this weekend. Games will be played Friday and Saturday with an if-necessary third game set for Sunday.

Times are likely be set today to accommodate television.

The matchup with Clemson was assured after the second-seeded Tigers beat Conway (S.C.) Regional host and No. 1 seed Coastal Carolina 15-3 Monday afternoon.

Since both MSU (36-20) and Clemson (41-21) were No. 2 seeds in their respective regionals, the determination of the host site was up to the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee, which MSU athletic director Larry Templeton chairs.

The committee voted to send the Super Regional to Starkville, MSU spokesman Mike Nemeth said.

Complete story