The Mississippi State Bulldogs of baseball open up their season this afternoon at Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium for the National Bank of Commerce Classic. The third annual NBC Classic has three participants: Connecticut, Birmingham-Southern and MSU.
The Panthers and Huskies match up in the first game of the Classic at 11 a.m. The “Diamond Dawgs” follow and take the field at 3 p.m. for a game against Birmingham-Southern. On Saturday, another BSC-Uconn contest begins at 11 a.m., and the Bulldogs take on the Huskies starting at 3 p.m. In Sunday’s lone game, MSU meets UConn in a rematch at 1 p.m.
After three weeks of non-conference play, State will open up a tough Southeastern Conference schedule against Vanderbilt at home. Before then, MSU goes up against East Tennessee State, Alabama-Birmingham, Louisiana Tech, Lipscomb and New Orleans.
In his 30th season as a head coach, Ron Polk said his Bulldogs are very capable SEC contenders.
“We have a lot of experienced pitchers, and we have enough depth to throw quality pitchers not only on SEC weekends but also in our midweek games,” Polk said. “This might be the deepest pitching staff I’ve had in my coaching career.”
The MSU pitcher drawing the most attention is junior Paul Maholm. In addition to being named a co-captain by his teammates, the lefty became a preseason All-American for 2003. Just like last season when he went 10-3, Maholm will be the Friday night starter.
“I feel good about Paul (Maholm) being our Friday guy,” Polk said. “It’s always great to have that ace on the Friday because there are a lot of aces on SEC rosters on Fridays.”
According to Polk, the other two weekend spots remain open. Todd Nicholas, community college transfer Alan Johnson, Jonathan Papelbon and Joey Collums will vie for the Saturday and Sunday spots.
Polk said that regardless of who fills the roles, pitching will make or break the SEC season for the Bulldogs.
“I feel as though this year in the SEC, pitching will be a very big factor,” Polk said. “I think this is going to be a pitcher’s year. Sometimes, it’s a hitter’s year. I think there are going to be a lot of fine pitchers throwing in this league this year.
“We’ll be young behind the plate, at second base and at two spots in the outfield, but the key to winning the SEC is pitching, then defense and finally hitting. Batting average is important, but it doesn’t indicate success often because if you don’t knock them in, it doesn’t win any ballgames.”
Returning starter Matthew Brinson will occupy first base again this year. The left-handed junior batted .316 last year and led the team in homeruns and RBI with 14 and 71 respectively.
The second base position remains wide open for now with Tyler Scarbrough, Josh Thoms, Daniel Tackett, Jo Jo Haney and Casey Hamilton competing for the start.
“At second base, we have a great competition,” Polk said. “We have a lot of guys that have played second base either a primary or a secondary role.”
Senior and second-year co-captain Matthew Maniscalco will field balls at shortstop. Maniscalco has been one of the SEC’s best shortstops since his freshman year in 2000. This year, he’s coming off shoulder surgery and claims to be throwing at 80 to 90 percent right now. However, Maniscalco might as well be called “The Iron Dawg” with his streak of 183 consecutive starts, so he’ll be in the lineups this weekend.
After starting 60 games at third base his freshman year, Steve Gendron split time between third and right field as a sophomore and paced the team in hits with 84. This year, Gendron will return to a fulltime job at third.
Jon Mungle, a 2002 freshman All-American, has earned the start at leftfield. Mungle started 22 games in left last year, but he’s probably better appreciated for his bat. Mungle hit .341 at the plate last season and finished the year on a 10-game hitting streak.
The other two outfield positions won’t have much experience to fill them, but Polk believes it won’t be a detriment.
“In the outfield, we’re very young, but we feel good about it,” Polk said. “We’ve signed five really good athletes. We think our future in the outfield is solid. In fact, we probably won’t have to recruit an outfielder for a couple more years.”
True freshmen Joseph Hunter and Brad Corley have gotten the nod to start in center and right field. Prospects rated Hunter the top outfielder in Tennessee his senior year, and Baseball America has predicted Corley to be the college freshman of the year.
With some real youngsters serving valuable roles, Polk said the team should have an extra spring in its step this season.
“I feel as though our team speed has improved greatly,” Polk said. “Some of our guys are quicker than they were last year. I think we’re better, especially in the outfield, running balls down than last year.” Plenty of youth will also be added this year at catcher. Polk said that the position will certainly not be a one-man job, so he’s given himself a few from which to choose.
“Behind the plate, we’ve got three quality youngsters, even though they’re basically new,” Polk said. “J.B. Tucker’s the only one with any game experience. We have Craig Tatum and Thomas Berkery, both who red-shirted last year. Berkery also could be a factor at second base.”
Thanks to an excellent group of recruits and an impressive bunch of returning players, MSU has climbed to the preseason top-10 in Baseball America’s poll. This weekend, the players will get a chance to back up that ranking on the diamond.