Confidence is at its peak for the Bulldog baseball team this season. After finishing last year 23-33, State has started off this year 5-0. The Bulldogs had many critics after last season, but with stronger arms on the mound and several talented freshmen, MSU is looking to prove their doubters wrong.
State already made the headlines this season as freshman Daryl Norris was named SEC Freshman of the Week last week. The 2010 Alabama Player of the Year showed his abilities first on the mound as he pitched two innings and struck out five of the seven batters he faced in the Bulldogs’ opening game.
The following game, Norris finished 3-5 with five RBIs, a double and a triple while playing first base for the Bulldogs. He followed that up with a 2-3 and three RBI performance to close out the weekend. Coach John Cohen had high hopes for Norris and was impressed with his solid start.
“We are really proud of Daryl,” Cohen said. “For a freshman, his maturity and work ethic are very advanced. His ability to both hit and pitch at such a high level has made Daryl invaluable to our club.”
After sweeping a double round-robin series with Akron and Lamar last weekend, State increased the winning streak to five games as they defeated the Demons of Northwestern State 6-4 on Tuesday. Sophomore Kendall Graveman made his first appearance of the year as he pitched five innings and only gave up four hits and two runs. Graveman started out the third inning shaky giving up back to back singles but ended the inning strong with a tailor made double play.
The Bulldog bats didn’t heat up until the fourth inning, but the team scratched out the game’s first 2 runs. Two leadoff walks followed by a bunt single by catcher Cody Freeman preceded RBIs by C.T. Bradford and Jonathan Ogden.
Relief pitcher Andrew Busby, who recorded his first win of the season, got some much needed insurance runs in the seventh as Norris got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Bradford then came through with a clutch two-out two RBI double that gave the Bulldogs a 6-2 lead.
Northwestern State threatened in the eighth, but an amazing diving catch by right fielder Brent Brownlee allowed the Bulldogs to breath a sigh of relief. Cohen said that Brownlee is capable of making numerous plays like that.
“We see him do things like that all the time; that’s why last year when he got hurt the first weekend, we lost one of the most dynamic outfielders defensively in the SEC,” Cohen said. “He makes the whole ball park smaller when he can run to balls like that; he’s a special defender.”
Caleb Reed took over on the mound for Luis Pollorena and sat the Demons down one, two, three to seal the win for the Dawgs. Defensively, State made its first error of the season this game, and Cohen credits this year’s defensive improvement to the solid pitching and large numbers of strikeouts recorded on the mound.
“I have a lot of confidence in this group defensively because it’s the second year in for most of these guys,” Cohen said. “We just work so hard at that part of the game in this ball park, so that gives us confidence.”
The Bulldogs have not only increased the performance on the field this year, but the mood off the field is also much better than last season. Freeman, who went 3-3 in Tuesday’s game, noticed this change surrounding the team.
“It’s a lot of fun playing, and in the dugout, there’s a lot of energy,” said Freeman. “Even in the clubhouse, there’s energy and the coaches are having fun; it’s a lot better atmosphere this year.”
The Diamond Dawgs look to continue their winning streak this weekend as they host Belmont. Game times are set for 4 p.m. today, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.