September 2000 Unofficial MSU Baseball and Softball News
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9/30/00 - Friday baseball scrimmage info:
Junior outfielder Enrico Jones hit a game-winning two-out double.
Sophomore shortstop Matthew Maniscalco was 1-for-3 and walked twice.
Junior third baseman Michael Brown was 2-for-4 with 1 triple.
Redshirt freshman first baseman Jonathan Papelbon was 2-for-2 with a triple.
Meridian CC sophomore transfer catcher Jamie Farris (5-11, 205, righthand hitter) was 1-for-1 in his first at-bat. Jamie was a try out walk-on who made the walk-on cuts and is trying out for the team. Jamie played his high school ball at Hattiesbury HS.
Senior outfielder Phillip Willingham was 2-for-3.
Freshman third baseman Brent Lewis was 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 1 RBI.
Senior RHP Jeff Hunter, pitching his third straight outstanding performance, threw 3 inning of no-run, no-walk, no-hit, 5-strikeout ball.
Junior RHP Tanner Brock continues to be impressive. Yesterday, he threw 3 innings of 1-run, 1-hit, 1-walk, 2-strikeout ball.
Senior RHP Josh Wooten also had a good outing, throwing 2 hits while striking out 3 in 2 innings of relief.
Don't forget the baseball scrimmage today at 10 a.m. It should last no longer than two hours.
For those of you who are members of the Mississippi State Dugout Club, there will be a Dugout Club Meet the Players Cookout after next Friday night's Maroon-White fall baseball game. The game will begin at 4 p.m. with the cookout set for approximately 6:30 p.m. Also, it is time to renew your Dugout Club membership. Click here to print off a membership form. Don't forget to mark whether you will be at the cookout.
9/29/00 - MSU baseball Thursday scrimmage info:
Only one pitcher stood out during yesterday's scrimmage. Sophomore LHP Steven Dowe threw two innings of no-run, no-hit, no-walk, 2-strikeout ball.
There were several hitting stars. Sophomore shortstop Matthew Maniscalco, 1-for-3 with 1 triple and 1 walk; senior rightfielder Phillip Willingham, 1-for-3 with 2 walks; senior first baseman Jon Knott, 3-for-4 with 1 double and 1 RBI; freshman leftfielder Winston Pearson, 1-for-3 with 1 RBI; redshirt freshman second baseman J. T. Hardcastle, 1-for-2 with 1 double and 1 RBI; redshirt freshman centerfielder Brad Hutto, 1-for-3 with 1 double and 1 RBI; freshman DH Robby Goodson, 1-for-1 with 2 walks and 1 RBI; senior third baseman Darrin Hope, 1-for-2 with 1 RBI.
Junior college RHP Allen Buckley seemed to have finally become comfortable on the mound in his second inning of work. He had a rough first outing and then had a rough 1st inning yesterday but in his second inning of work he struck out two of the batters that he faced. The other two batters walked and grounded out.
During the last 4 games, Matthew Maniscalco has gotten on base 10 of 14 at bats.
Phillip Willingham hit a nice sacrifice fly to knock in Matthew Maniscalco.
Winston Pearson and Darrin Hope both had clutch two-out RBI singles. J.T. Hardcastle also had a clutch two-out double to knock in Pearson.
For those of you coming to this weekend's football game, you may want to come a little early Friday afternoon and watch the Friday baseball scrimmage which will begin at approximately 4 p.m. The scrimmages normally last for 2 hours. The Diamond Dogs will also scrimmage Saturday morning beginning at 10 a.m.
9/27/00 - MSU baseball Tuesday scrimmage info:
Pitching dominated yesterday's scrimmage. The totals were 3 runs on 9 hits, 6 walks and 10 strikeouts. Pitchers that stood out were redshirt freshman RHP Collins Hughes who threw 3 innings, allowed 1 run (unearned), no hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout; junior RHP Adam Larson, 3 innings, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, no walks and no runs; freshman LHP Paul Maholm, 3 innings, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks and 1 earned run.
Hitting stars in yesterday's scrimmage: Sophomore shortstop Matthew Maniscalco, 1-for-2 with 2 walks; freshman leftfielder Jon Mungle, 2-for-2; redshirt freshman centerfielder Brad Hutto, 1-for-2, 1 double, 2 walks; senior rightfielder/second baseman Phillip Willingham, 1-for-2 with 1 RBI; junior catcher Jason Burkley, 1-for-3 with 1 walk.
Freshman leftfielder Jon Mungle has showed good speed the past couple of scrimmages, beating out two infield hits.
Matthew Maniscalco, over the last three games, has walked 5 times.
Of freshman LHP Paul Maholm's 9 outs, 3 were strikeouts, 2 were infield popups and 4 were groundouts. Even the basehit hit off of Maholm by Jon Mungle was an infield hit.
Redshirt freshman RHP Collins Hughes' outing was just as impressive. Of his 9 outs, 6 were infield groundouts, 1 was a strikeout and 2 were infield popups.
For those of you coming to this weekend's football game, you may want to come a little early Friday afternoon and watch the Friday baseball scrimmage which will begin at approximately 4 p.m. The Diamond Dogs will also scrimmage Saturday morning beginning at 10 a.m.
9/26/00 - PLEASE READ - The Maroon and White baseball game is not this Friday night but Friday, October 6th. My mistake.
MSU baseball Monday scrimmage info:
For the first time during a scrimmage, the pitchers were allowed to throw more than just fastballs and changeups.
Senior righthanded pitcherJeff Hunter had his second straight outstanding pitching performance. Yesterday, he threw 3 perfect innings while striking out 5. Of the 36 pitches that he threw, 26 were strikes. The most balls he threw to a batter were two and he only did that to 3 of the 9 batters that he faced.
Jeff was not the only pitcher that had a good day on the mound. Redshirt freshman RHP Jeff Lacher threw 2 innings, allowing 2 hits and 2 unearned runs while striking out three. Junior RHP Tanner Brock threw 3 innings, allowing 3 hits and one walk while striking out 4.
Hitting stars were junior college newcomer Casey Long, 2-for-4 with 1 2B and 1 RBI; freshman Brent Lewis, 2-for-3 with 1 walk and 3 RBI; junior college newcomer Chad Henry, 2-for-3 with 1 2B; freshman Jon Mungle, 1-for-2 with a walk; freshman Robby Goodson, 1-for-2 and junior Lee Parks, 1-for-1 with 1 walk.
Although he only had one hit yesterday, freshman shortstop Steve Gendron hit two other balls extremely hard but out. He also had a couple of stolen bases.
9/25/00 - MSU baseball Saturday scrimmage info:
Hitting stars during the Saturday scrimmage were true freshman 3rd baseman Brent Lewis, 2-for-3 with an walk; outfielder/DH Josh West, 2-for-3 with 2 RBI; senior transfer 3rd baseman Darrin Hope, 2-for-2 with 2 RBI. Junior catcher Jason Burkley also had a 2-run double and junior college transfer Michael Brown had a triple in three at bats.
Redshirt freshman RHP pitcher Jonathan Papelbon threw 2 solid innings, allowing no runs on no hits or walks. He struck out one. Ryan Carroll also had a good 2-inning outing, allowing no runs on 3 hits, while striking out 2.
True freshman shortstop Steve Gendron made an outstanding play going to his right, fielding the ball, jumping up and throwing the ball, all in one smooth motion. His throw, although strong enough to throw the runner out, was up the line a little bit.
Walkon junior college transfer centerfielder Casey Long continues to impress with his bat. He was 1-for-3 with one of his outs a line shot to the centerfielder.
The team normally scrimmages beginning at 4 p.m. each afternoon. All practices are open to the public.
The Maroon and White Game is this Friday night
9/23/00 - Here are a few highlights and info from yesterday's MSU baseball scrimmage:
Hitting stars from yesterday's baseball scrimmage were sophomore shortstop Matthew Maniscalco, 2-for-3; freshman third baseman Brent Lewis, 2-for-2 with 2 RBI; junior college transfer outfielder Casey Long, 2-for-2; and junior/senior (?) outfielder Josh West, 1-for-3 with a two-run homerun. Redshirt freshman DH Jeff Lacher and true freshman outfielder Winston Pearsonwere both 1-for-1 with an RBI.
The question mark beside Josh West's classification is due to the fact that MSU has appealed his status due to last year's injury. As of now, the NCAA has not determined anything. BTW, Josh hit the ball very well in batting practice yesterday. He didn't hit any homeruns during practice, he hit just about every ball very solid.
The pitching star was redshirt freshman RHP Collins Hughes, 2 ip, 0 hits, 3 ks.
Although he got hit hard a couple of times, junior pitcher Brandon Medders showed excellent velocity (had to be 90+) and good control. After giving up a 2-run homerun to Josh West, he came right back and got the next two hitters to get out of the inning without any further damage.
What was very impressive about the hurlers yesterday was the fact that they only walked one batter while striking out 9 in the 5.5 innings scrimmage.
During batting practice, true freshman firstbaseman/pitcher Robby Goodson hit a couple out of the park.
True freshman shortstop/third baseman Steve Gendron looks like he is going to be an excellent defensive shortstop. He looked very smooth and confident in the field during infield practice yesterday.
Senior transfer third baseman Darrin Hope has very quick hands and really gets the ball over to 2nd base in a hurry.
9/22/00 - Here are a few highlights and info from yesterday's MSU baseball scrimmage:
Senior pitcher Jeff Hunter had an excellent outing, throwing two-innings of shutout ball. Jeff allowed not hits, no walks and struck out three.
Two true freshmen pitchers, Michael Novarese and Robby Goodson, had very good first scrimmage outings. Both threw two-innings with Novarese allowing 1 hit, 2 walks and striking out 2 while Goodson allowed 2 hits, walked 1 and struck out 2.
Junior college transfer Michael Brown had a very good first outing, going 1-for-2, with 3 walks and 1 HBP. Michael, who played third base the last time I went to practice, played second base and left field yesterday.
Other hitters who had solid hitting scrimmages were Brad Hutto, Cager Garner, Chad Henry, Phillip Willingham (all went 1-for-2) and Casey Long (he went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk).
J.T. Hardcastle made an excellent play at second base, showing very quick hands while turning a 4-6-3 double play.
Although no home runs were hit, the team did hit five doubles (Henry, Hutto, Long, Maniscalco, Papelbon hit them).
The team continues fall practice Friday and Saturday with scrimmages both days. Friday, the scrimmage should start at about 4 p.m. Not sure at this time when the Saturday scrimmage will begin.
The annual Maroon and White game will be played on Friday night (October 6th). The annual MSU Baseball World Series is tentatively set for October 25-27. MSU baseball parents weekend is scheduled for October 13-14.
Softball - For the better part of the last handful of weeks, the Mississippi State softball team has spent time mending its holes.
Although the squad is coming off its best season in school history to date, the Bulldogs must now fill holes left by seven seniors, by far its biggest recruiting class, and fill them with variably experienced newcomers.
"We now have the expectations that we want to go back to NCAA Regionals," said Mississippi State head coach Kathy Arendsen. "But, we want to take it that next step further and win the regional and go to the College World Series. I can see it, especially in the 11 returning players' eyes, that is what their goals are. That is what they are training for. They believe that we can do that."
Mississippi State will unofficially get its first test of the new era Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs host its annual MSU Fall Fest at the Mississippi State Softball Field. Mississippi State, along with Belmont, Meridian C.C., Delta State and MUW, will guage its fall practice progress in a round-robin style tournament which will not count towards any team's official win-loss record.
"These games give us a chance to see where we are at in terms of preparation for the spring season," Arendsen said. "It will give us an idea of what areas we need to work on and will also give us the chance to see what our strengths are heading into the remainder of fall practice."
The Bulldogs will open Fall Fest play when they suit up to host Meridian C.C. at 9:30 a.m. State will then get a hefty break before returning back to the MSU Softball Field for two-straight games beginning at 6:15 p.m. against both Belmont and MUW, respectively.
Last season, both MUW and MSU squared off in the championship game of the fall tournament, with State being forced to come-from-behind to take the tournament championship.
2000 MSU Fall Fest Schedule (All Games Played At The MSU Softball Field)
9:30 a.m. - Mississippi State vs. Meridian C.C.
11:15 a.m. - Delta State vs. Meridian C.C.
1 p.m. - Belmont vs. Mississippi University for Women
2:45 p.m. - Delta State vs. Mississippi University for Women
4:30 p.m. - Delta State vs. Belmont
6:15 p.m. - Mississippi State vs. Belmont
8 p.m. - Mississippi State vs. Mississippi University for Women
9/19/00 - First day of baseball practice info:
MSU, at the end of the practice, played a three-inning controlled scrimmage. Assistant Coach Matt Ishee threw the entire scrimmage.
Junior college signee Michael Brown looked very, very good, defensively, at third base. During the controlled scrimmage he made every play at third base including several difficult plays going to the shortstop side of third base. He showed very quick hands and a fairly good arm. Michael also played in leftfield during the last inning of the three-inning controlled scrimmage.
Junior college signee Chad Henry, playing for the White team, had a couple of singles with an RBI during the scrimmage.
For the Maroon team J.T. Hardcastle had a couple of hits and an RBI.
During the early drills, Jon Knott and Jonathan Papelbon and newcomers Robby Goodson and Todd Nicholas played first base.
On third were newcomers Michael Brown and Darrin Hope. Another newcomer, Steve Gendron also played third base during the scrimmage.
For those of you who wonder how much time the players spend on bunting drills, I just thought you would like to know that each group of hitters spent thirty minutes bunting. While one group of hitters were working on their bunting, another group was going through batting practice.
I was surprised at how many of the newcomers read the internet and have also read Gene's Page. Be careful what you say about MSU because the recruits ARE reading what you are writing.
9/17/00 - MSU baseball begins their fall team practices this Monday. Look for periodic updates on how things are going at practice.
9/08/00 - Look for MSU baseball to head back to California next season. MSU is scheduled to play Southern California in a three-game weekend series at Los Angles from February 23rd through February 25th.
9/01/00 - Collegiate Baseball came out with its college baseball attendance figures for last season. The figures were provided to Collegiate Baseball by the individual schools.
Once again LSU topped the list with an average of 7,355 per game (39 dates). Alabama was second with an average of 6,215 (34 dates). Mississippi State was third with 6,020 per game (29 dates). These figures were calculated by taking the number of season tickets sold, then adding the total number of individual tickets sold on game day. Only the schools know what their real attendance figures (people in the seats) were.
Of the 12 SEC schools, 5 were in the top 10 in per game average. The three listed above and Arkansas (6th, 3,456) and South Carolina (8th, 3,273). Other SEC schools in the top 35 included Auburn (11th, 2,932), Florida (22nd, 1,811), Georgia (27th, 1,577), and Mississippi (31st, 1,254).
MSU, even though it did not host a super regional, led all post-season sites in attendance with 39,860. The closet to State was LSU with 37,373 (super regional included).
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