As the 2012 regular season in college baseball begins to wind down, teams will be looking to perform at their very best in hopes of improving their postseason position. That will be the case this weekend as the Mississippi State Bulldogs will host the Tennessee Volunteers at Dudy Noble Field. With some of the best crowds of the season expected due to Super Bulldog Weekend, MSU will look to bounce back after being swept last weekend on the road at South Carolina and losing the Governor’s Cup to Ole Miss Tuesday night in Pearl.
While the Bulldogs have recently hit a rough patch, MSU head coach John Cohen said he thinks the team can still achieve great success this season.
 ”Our guys are really excited about (this weekend),” Cohen said. “I don’t know if we invented this concept or not, but it seems like we’ve been doing this for a long time, and it’s a very special tradition here at Mississippi State.”
If the season ended today, the Bulldogs would most likely not be in the SEC tournament. Cohen said he likes the position MSU is in as the Bulldogs begin the final stretch of conference play.
“I feel like we’re at a great place,” Cohen said. “Our kids are really excited. We have five weekends left, and three of those are at home.”
With half of the SEC season in the bag, the Bulldogs will look to overcome a slow start that featured just one series win en route to a lackluster 5-10 conference record and a 21-15 overall record. Sophomore C.T. Bradford said he is feeling optimistic toward the remainder of the 2012 regular season.
“We feel like we match up well with Tennessee,” Bradford said. “We like our chances this weekend and for the remainder of the season.”
Bradford, along with several other MSU players, has been hindered by injuries over the course of the regular season. Along with Bradford, senior Brent Brownlee and sophomores Daryl Norris and Taylor Stark have all endured ailments at various times during the season. Cohen said these injuries have limited the Bulldogs’ capabilities in every aspect of the game and have even caused some of the players to barely be able to run off the field at full speed during games.
“Physically, we’re beat up,” Cohen said. “We’re just really close to being a really solid club, and these next five weekends are huge for our program.”
One player who will likely play a large role in determining MSU’s success this weekend is Chris Stratton, a junior pitcher who currently leads the SEC in strikeouts. Earlier in the season, Stratton struck out 17 batters in a game against LSU, but MSU could only manage to plate two runs in a 3-2 extra-inning loss to the Tigers. Last weekend, the Tupelo native pitched 7.2 quality innings in MSU’s first contest against South Carolina but watched as a 6-4 lead dwindle by a mixture of State’s bullpen and poor defense. State eventually lost the game 7-6. On the season, Stratton has posted an impressive 7-0 record with an earned run average of 2.98, both of which are stats that Evan Mitchell, a sophomore pitcher, said energizes MSU’s pitching staff and motivates them to perform at a high level each game.
“Stratton is one of the hardest working guys on the team,” Mitchell said. “He’s one of those guys that you try and do everything he does, because he’s the best.”
Across the field from MSU, Tennessee comes into the weekend series in a similar situation to the Bulldogs. With a 7-8 SEC record and a 22-15 overall record, UT, much like State, will be looking to finish the regular season strong in hopes of ensuring a birth in postseason play.
“Now is the time for us to start coming up,” Mitchell said. “Especially with the big fan base here this weekend, we have to take advantage of it.”