Men's Golf
MADISON, Miss. - The Mississippi State men’s golf team is tied for ninth place
after firing rounds of 309 and 313 on day one of the Reunion Intercollegiate.
On a day when the course average was more than six-over-par, Mstate fought
through unseasonably cool and windy conditions to finish at 46-over-par after
the first two rounds and is 26 strokes behind first place LSU.
MSU seniors Carlos Sainz, Jr. and Josh Bevell lead the Bulldogs at
eight-over-par through two rounds. Both players notched back-to-back rounds of
76 and are tied for 12th after day one. Fellow classmate Brian Mason is tied
for 41st at 13-over-par. Senior Matt Fast is 17-over-par and is tied for 53rd.
Senior Noah Goldman rounds out the Bulldog lineup with his two-round total of
163.
MSU will tee off in the final round at 9:40 a.m. Tuesday.
Baseball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State (16-15) looks to extend a
14-game series win streak Tuesday night when the Bulldogs take on the
UAB Blazers (16-13) in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Regions Park in Hoover,
Ala.
State claimed an 8-4 win over UAB March 18 in Starkville, advancing its
all-time lead in the series to 29-9.
Junior right-hander Ricky Bowen (1-1, 7.47), will open on the hill for
the Bulldogs.
Regions Park, the home of the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White
Sox’ Class AA Southern League franchise, is the second of three
minor league parks on MSU’s 2009 schedule. State has played one of its
two games scheduled for Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss., the home of
Atlanta’s Class AA Mississippi Braves. State plays its final regular
season non-conference road game next month, taking on the University of
Memphis at AutoZone Park, home to the Memphis Redbirds, the Class AAA
Pacific Coast League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Junior third baseman Russ Sneed (.367) enters the week with the
team’s top batting average and a team-leading 36 hits. Junior first
baseman Connor Powers (.321) went 7-for-13 with three home runs and six
RBI in last weekend’s three-game series against Auburn and leads the
club with eight home runs and 33 RBI. Over the past five games senior
outfielder Grant Hogue (.338) has gone 14-for-22 (.636) with five stolen
bases, while sophomore shortstop Ryan Powers (.278) enters the week
riding an eight-game hitting streak.
State rode the complete-game pitching performance of freshman Nick Routt (4-1, 2.83) to an 8-3 Saturday win over Auburn at Dudy Noble
Field. En route to notching his third straight complete-game pitching
performance, Routt recorded a personal-best and staff season-high 12
strikeouts and blanked Auburn in eight of his nine innings. The Tigers
rallied to claim the other two games of the series, 9-8 and 12-10.
The Blazers dropped all three games of last weekend’s Conference USA
series to 16th-ranked East Carolina. UAB, coached by former MSU
assistant Brian Shoop, is led at the plate by catcher/DH Digger Towe
(.402, 38 RBI) and outfielder Cody McMurry (.371, nine HR, 33 RBI).
First baseman Luke Stewart (.284) belted his ninth and 10th home runs of
the year in the series.
The Bulldogs close out the week with four consecutive televised games.
State hosts instate rival Southern Miss Wednesday (6:36 p.m.) in a game
televised by Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS). Former Bulldog and Major
League pitching great Jay Powell will team with CSS regular Matt Stewart
in the broadcast booth. All three games of this weekend’s
MSU-Tennessee series in Knoxville, Tenn., will be broadcast live by
SportsSouth.