For the Mississippi State Bulldogs, baseball season begins Feb. 23 at the National Bank of Commerce Classic, and the Bulldogs will begin SEC competition 14 games later at Dudy Noble Field. The Bulldogs will open conference play with a three-game series against the always tough South Carolina Gamecocks in Starkville.
Last year, State finished 39-24 (17-13 conference) for the regular season and won the SEC Tournament in Birmingham.
Despite LSU being favored to win the conference, the Bulldogs have a realistic opportunity to defend their tournament title and win the regular season championship as well.
Generally recognized as the toughest conference in college baseball, the SEC has several contenders that will serve as obstacles for MSU.
“The SEC is a real balanced leagueI don’t think anybody dominates the SEC anymore in baseball,” head coach Ron Polk said.
The Bulldogs are again expected to be a force in the upcoming season as they are ranked as high as 17th in the preseason polls.
“The preseason polls really mean nothing in college baseball,” Polk said. “We’ll see what happens, but the polls are something we worry about when the season ends.”
The Bulldogs’ first SEC series begins March 15 at home against South Carolina, a team that is predicted to win the SEC East. Like MSU, the strength of the Gamecocks also lies in their pitching staff, which returns five starters from 2001 that had a combined 30-14 record.
Two weeks later, the Bulldogs will travel to Louisiana State. Last year, MSU lost two of the three regular season games against the Tigers before beating them in the SEC tournament.
Despite losing four All-SEC players from its 2001 squad that won the SEC West, LSU is ranked highest of all the teams in the conference.
The next week, Ron Polk will have to face his former team, the Georgia Bulldogs. Before returning to Mississippi State, Polk coached at Georgia to win the SEC regular season title in his last year with the team.
MSU will begin the month of May with a home series against Florida.
Last year, Florida was the only team that was able to get the better of the Bulldogs. The Gators won three close contests played in Gainsville.
“They got big hits when they needed to, and (Florida) playing at home was a factor because they always came up with the last at bat,” senior pitcher Chris Young said. “When they come here, it’s just going to be a matter of playing our style of baseball, and I think we’ll be successful.”
The last weekend before the SEC tournament, Ole Miss will come to play the Bulldogs. Ole Miss, also ranked nationally, has recruited several top pitchers.
The SEC tournament will be held at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Birmingham, Ala., for the fifth-straight year. Afterward will be the NCAA Regionals, Super Regionals and the College World series in Omaha, Neb.
Last year, MSU made it to the Super Regional Tournament but was eliminated early.
“Every guy on our team this year is hungrier,” said Chris Young, MVP of last year’s SEC Tournament. “Our goal is never to go to the Super Regionals. It’s always to go to the World Series and win it, and every year that we don’t accomplish that, it makes people hungrier.”
Junior co-captain Matthew Maniscalco added, “We know we can be in Omaha, and we can have a shot at winning in Omaha.”
The addition of Polk as head coach brings some post-season experience to the Bulldogs as well.
“We know that (Polk) has been there and had that experience,” Maniscalco said. “He knows what it takes to coach a team to the World Series, and we just hope we can be his first national champion.