Team of Destiny?

Taken from Ian's blog:

"Here's one more thing that Alabama coach Jim Wells pointed out this morning, though I have no idea how relevant it is: There are two times that a No. 1 team has come to Tuscaloosa. Both times, the Tide won the regular season series. Both times, that No. 1 team ended up winning the College World Series."

The two teams that went to Alabama ranked #1, lost the series and eventually won the national title were Miami in 1985 and LSU in 1997.

We'll have to see how the weekend unfolds, but this is certainly an interesting development.

Two More in the Win Column

State continues to roll on the diamond, improving their record to 21-1, after a midweek - two game (5-4, 9-2) - sweep of Birmingham Southern.

State needed some timely hitting to notch the win on Tuesday, but yesterday the offense opened up early and freshmen pitcher Lea only gave up two runs in six innings to pick up his fourth win on the year.

Berkery will try to extend his 19 game hitting streak this weekend against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Welcome General Foglesong

There is currently a lot of debate on the State message boards regarding the potential hire of General Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong as Mississippi State University's next president. Many are upset because their man, Dr. Keenum, did not get the position and many are upset about the nature of the search. That's understandable.

"He has a clear vision of where he wants to take MSU over the next five years," Cole said of Foglesong. "What set him apart from the others was the specifics of his ideas about how to move Mississippi State forward."

I don't know much about Dr. Foglesong, but what I do know, I like. It's my understanding that he was well liked and respected by his Air Force colleagues, which is no small feat for a Four Star. I suspect this man will be a well liked president, once "folks get to know him."

Outsiders are never looked upon kindly in the South. Change comes hard. But a new perspective and strong leadership is what our University needs and what I believe our University will get with Dr. Foglesong.

Here are my top five predictions for Dr. Foglesong's tenure at Mississippi State:

1. The Golden Triangle will receive multiple aerospace contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
2. MSU research grants will break dollar amount records.
3. Dr. Foglesong will be called upon by the masses to be more publicly vocal regarding athletics. He won't do it. But he will demand excellence behind the scenes.
4. Dr. Foglesong will be visible and accessible.
5. The flyovers at football games will be much better aircraft than the T37s from Columbus.

Still #1 in Baseball America Poll

(Taken from Baseball America.)

In other polls, State moved up to #2 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's poll and up to #3 in the Rosenblatt Report poll.

Series Win

It wasn't easy, it rarely is, but the Dogs escaped from Baton Rouge with a series win.

Game one was a blowout, 11-1. And included back to back to back homeruns from State.

"I thought we hit a lot of balls on the nose," said MSU skipper Ron Polk, whose team is back on the field at 1 p.m. today for Game 2. "It's a hitter's ballpark. I just wish we could bank some of those runs, because we know LSU will be back. Their backs are now against the wall."

Game two was lost in the late innings.

"We knew we weren't going to go 56-0," MSU reliever Mike Valentine said.

Game three was won in the 10th.

"It's not an easy ballpark to play in," Polk said. "I told Skip (Bertman, the Tigers' former coach who now serves as LSU's athletics director) that I had a little tear in my eye, because it's the last game I'll coach at Alex Box. This is like my second home, my gosh."

I'll take it.

19-1. 4-1 in the SEC.

New rankings will be released shortly.


(The photo above is of the LSU dugout watching as State took the lead in the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly. The photo is courtesy of Advocate staff photographer Patrick Dennis.)

Two Ex-Dog Pitchers Getting Major League Chances this Spring

Paul Maholm and Jonathon Papelbon have tremendous opportunities in front of them. Both of them ended the 2005 season on major league rosters, Maholm with the Pirates and Papelbon with the Red Sox and both will start this season on those respective rosters, Maholm as the number five starter and Papelbon in the bullpen (for now).

Baseball Recruiting

Good article from Chicagosports.com about Connor Powers, a first baseman/pitcher, who has narrowed his college choices down to Purdue and Mississippi State.

Powers hit .505 last season with an .879 slugging percentage and 49 RBIs. On the mound he went 5-1 with a 1.53 ERA.

The article is mostly about his dedication to the game after suffering from a separated shoulder late last season during a collision on the bath paths.

Red Stick

The 17-0 Mississippi State Bulldogs take their unblemished record and number one national ranking to Baton Rouge this weekend.

“If we can take two out of three against LSU, then I think it’s safe to say we’re a legitimate contender,” Polk said.

LSU head coach Smoke Laval is comparing his team to MSU's squad of a year ago. Young and inexperienced, but talented.

“A few years ago they were so young, they didn’t have to bring shaving cream when they went on the road,” Laval said. “Now they need walkers.”

LSU was planning to start two lefties this weekend, one on Friday (Dirks) and one on Sunday (Forrer, 1-0, 4.40), but according to the Baton Rouge Advocate, Dirks is out with flu like symptoms (along with 10 other players), so Forrer, the typical Sunday starter for LSU, will be getting the start tonight. State will go with the same three as last weekend, Dunn, Johnson and Lalor.

Forrer leads LSU in walks allowed with 12. State’s three weekend starters have allowed a total of 14 walks on the season.

...and the beat goes on.

Mississippi State baseball is now in the midst of the longest winning "ahem" streak in school history, as the Dogs move to 16-0.

But, I'm still not talking about it.

State beat UAB last night 10-3. Freshmen righty Matt Lea picked up his third win.

Next up: Jacksonville State.

I enjoyed this quote from coach Polk in today's Clarion Ledger.

"It's early," Polk said. "But if I had to pick one poll for us to be No. 1 in, I'd pick Baseball America. Those people really know what they're doing."

"Take No. 1 honor with dose of salt"

To hell with you, Mr. Cleveland.

"So, in the overall scheme of things, what does all this mean?
Not much.

Not much at all."

You know what it means, sir.

It means:

From March 20, 2006 - March 26, 2006, Mississippi State was considered the best baseball team in the entire country.

And what does that mean?

It means a lot.

Name the last time a big three sport from the state of Mississippi was ranked number one at any point in the season?

What's that you say? 1993, you say? Mississippi State Baseball in 1993.

Wow. It's been 13 years since one of the big three sports in Mississippi has been ranked number one at any point in the season, but to Rick Cleveland it means, "Not much at all."

Thanks Rick. Way to live in the moment.

Not that I respected Mr. Cleveland's opinion before, but now he's really lost me.

Cleveland can tell his readers to take State's number one ranking with a dose of salt, but I'm going to enjoy the brief moments in time when Mississippi State University manages to stand on top of the hill.

This is the current front page of Baseball America.

Perhaps I'm having too much fun with this early season poll. But damn it, Mississippi State hasn't been ranked number one in any sport for so long that I refuse to feel guilt for celebrating this accomplishment, whether it's still March or not.

State is #1 in Baseball America Poll

Taken from Baseball America:

Mississippi State ascended to No. 1 in Baseball America's weekly college baseball rankings for the first time since March 1993 thanks to a 15-0 start. It marks the best start in school history for the Bulldogs, who won four times on the week and have tied the MSU record for consecutive wins.

Former No. 1 Georgia Tech slipped to No. 5 after dropping a series at North Carolina State, which re-entered the rankings at No. 20. No. 2 Clemson fell to 10th after getting swept at Virginia, which makes its season debut in the Top 25 at No. 24.

I'm not talking about it.

State won their first SEC series this past weekend, 2-0. Game three was cancelled due to rain, which is a shame, because the way things are going State probably would have won that one too.
15-0.

Only undefeated team in Division 1. The best record to start a season in State's history, topping the '85 team's previous record of 14-0. Whew...this could get ugly.

But until then, I'm going to enjoy it.

All this and we have fallen to number 4 in the RPI. Hmm...

Should be interesting to see how much we jump in the polls.

So, the question of the day was asked by CL beat writer Ian Rapaport:

So, MSU coach Ron Polk, can this year’s team hold up to comparisons with
the 1985 team?

"Well, that 1985 team was pretty good," said Polk, in his 27th year at State. "Are we better (this year)? I don’t know. But I know the league is better now."

Still Rollin'

Dogs win again last night. This time over Jacksonville State, 7-4. On Tuesday, they took out UAB in high form, 20-4.

This is starting to become one of those streaks you don't talk about.

You know, first rule of the streak; you don't talk about the streak.

That being said...

Tennessee (who lost to a 2-10 Sienna team by the score of 9-8 yesterday) is up next. They'll be in Starkville for the first SEC series of the season this weekend.

Speaking of the SEC...just in time for the first weekend of conference games, our boy Ian writes his first SEC baseball preview. And he's already drinking the SEC kool-aid.

"By now, the Southeastern Conference receives little debate when it calls itself college baseball's best.

Need proof? Take your pick of these numbers, compiled since 1990.

More NCAA Tournament bids (100) than any other conference. More College World Series teams (32) than any other conference. More different programs (nine) to make it to Omaha than any other conference."

(The picture above of Rea batting against JSU was taken from http://www.mstateathletics.com.)

Speaking of Expectations

Look out Paps, Boston has set them high.

A sports page headline in today's Boston Globe reads, "Rocket Redux."

Holy crap.

A few excerpts:

"Twenty years after Roger Clemens first brought his blazing fastball up from Pawtucket to Boston, the Red Sox are counting on another of their home-grown studs from the South, Jonathan Papelbon, to heat up Fenway Park."

"Even if Boston fans won't admit it, there's a part of them that's always been looking for the next Rocket. It may be Jonathan Papelbon."

"When I started pitching at Mississippi State, I thought to myself, 'Who do I want to pitch like?' " he says. "It was obviously Roger."

Besides the Clemens comparison, this is a long feature and a very good read.

Uh, oh..."Expectations"

I've never been a big fan of Jim Mashek of the Sun Herald. Maybe it goes back to his continual bashing of Sherrill, before there was anything to really bash him about. But, whatever it is, this guy also seems to be trying his hardest to make Mr. State Fan's life miserable.

In today's rag, he boasts on the undefeated Dogs, which is nice, but damn it, everyone who has followed State over the years is well aware of the choking nature of any State club with *gasp* expectations. The fellas over at the SixPack call it the "Cream Theory."

"The Cream Theory - Whenever MSU is in a position to achieve success on a national level, everyone associated with MSU from coaches to fans to players to staff experiences a dramatic tightening of the sphincter so great, we cannot help but choke. This theory was created by Stallion4Tiiigaaahhhs, author of Cream Talk."

The following gems were uttered over the past weekend and put into print by our good friend Mashek today.

"I think we're an Omaha team," Rea said.

"It's a veteran ballclub," Polk said. "Two or three years ago, these kids might not have been able to handle a series like we had over the weekend with Arizona. Our pitchers are throwing strikes, and our earned-run average is right around 2.00. We've had some timely hitting and played great defense. I think we can hit the ball a little better."

"We have high expectations. We're going to win a lot of games," Dunn said.

Another Sweep

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the only undefeated team in Division 1 college baseball.

That's pretty sweet.

Another great weekend by the pitching staff. This is college baseball, where runs rule the day, and this staff only gave up 8 all weekend. Very nice. Pitching like that takes a lot of pressure off the bats.

(Last week's Baseball America ranked number 5) Tennesse comes to town this weekend and the boys in Maroon have midweek games at UAB and at Jacksonville State.

The Mississippi State nation really needs a couple positive months.


(The picture of Jeff Butts above was taken from www.mstateathletics.com.)

Basketball Recap

Well, State's season is over.

I predicted a 19-20 win season back in November. And you'll get no excuses from me. I was just flat out wrong.

The first half of the SEC schedule was brutal and the defections of Sharpe and Houston hurt the team, this season and in the long run. Don't get me wrong, Sharpe was probably more of a distraction than an asset, but Stansbury has to view losing him as a failure, because the guy has talent.

The biggest failure of this past season is again the team's inability to build any kind of depth. Stansbury continues to struggle with the task of keeping non-starters happy. Maybe he promises these kids the world when he's recruiting them, but damn, I've never seen a team that consistently has so much discontent coming from the bench. And Houston being pissed about getting 10 minutes a game as a red shirt freshmen is just ridiculous. We missed his contribution this year and will really miss him the next three years. He could have been a 15 minute guy next year and a sixth man his junior year and probably a starter his senior year. Every program needs that type of depth.

The team will have plenty of talent in the starting five next season, but Stansbury better do whatever he has to do to ensure that Goodridge and Rimmer develop in the off-season. And he should probably sign a JUCO big man that can be a solid role player next season as well.

Overall, I'm disappointed in the outcome this year. An NIT bid should have been the minimum accomplishment of this team. I don't think you can call any tangible result of this season a success.

Bachelor Party

I will be out of contact with this page for the next five days due to the hosting responsibilities involved with my brother's bachelor party.

Hopefully when I return, I’ll have a sweep of Arizona and an SEC Tournament Championship (a guy can dream, right?) to write about.

Until then, I’ll be spending my time here.

Gordon Named to CollegeInsider.com Freshmen All America Team

Gordon was named this week to the CollegeInsider.com Freshmen All-America Team.

The collegeinsider.com Freshmen All-America team is one twenty-five-man team, rather than compiling a first, second, third and honorable mention.

Congrats Jamont.

Now, go win some SEC tourney games!

Another day, another defection.

Spring practice started yesterday. A player quit the team yesterday.

Hmm...sounds like last year.

“It was a good first day,” Croom said, “but that’s all it was…just the first day.”

Corey Clark quit the team and school for undisclosed reasons before yesterday's practice. Croom is quoted as saying that Clark didn't give a reason and he didn't ask for one (way to motivate the depth there coach).

In positive news, the wide receivers looked better than ever during the Croom regime, with Conner and Burks on the corners. Ian reports that Threadgill and Bell had good days as well.

And the defense is of course ahead of the offense. And oh yeah, quarterback play is lacking.

I could have written this report last week.


(Photo was taken from www.mstateathletics.com)

Great weekend.

A HUGE win over Bama and another sweep by the boys of summer (ahem, spring) makes this past weekend perfect for the Bulldogs.

What I don't understand is, how come we're still here? This isn't as big of an event as the football and basketball team winning on the same day, however it may make my assumption as to the ramifications from such an event null and void, which actually hinders my theory on State athletics as a whole (damn it).

But, there may be a silver lining. Perhaps in the sporting universe this paradox of events, a clean sweep by Mississippi State University over an entire weekend, marks a turn-around of sorts, a coming of a new day if you will.

Or perhaps not. But either way, I'm happy on Monday. And that's all that really matters.

Sunshine?

I'm not trying to pump too much sunshine here, but let's look at the facts.

On the road, minus Slater, Edmundson and Goodridge (not to mention the other two who shalt not be named), our pups hung in and put a little scare into Arkansas before it was all over. Personally, I enjoyed seeing Stan Heath sweat a little when State cut that 20 point lead to 10 with about 7:30 left in the second frame.

Is there a different outcome if Slater (out after only three minutes), Edmundson and Goodridge get minutes tonight? Maybe not with the way Modica was filling it up, but you never know.

Either way, the difference in this team from November is astounding. Rhodes, Gordon, Slater and both Delks have stepped up their games considerably since the beginning of the season, and for Rhodes and Slater, they've both lifted their game to another level this year.

All this makes me optimistic for the future.

The team had the same problems last night as the rest of the season, 10 minute lulls where they can't buy points. That will kill you. As it has against LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, UT, UK, etc., etc., etc.

A little more sunshine...I love the fight and confidence in these guys. They don't back down, they have a little attitude and they keep coming, win or lose, until the final horn. This off season will be about developing team work and gaining consistency on both ends. And adding some Juco muscle underneath wouldn't hurt either.


(Photo courtesy of April L. Brown, Associated Press.)