06/25/04 - Baseball news...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Three Mississippi prep standouts, all Mississippi State University baseball signees, have been named to the 2004 Louisville Slugger/TPX High School All-American baseball team.

Included on this year's prep all-American team are catcher Edward Easley of Olive Branch, Miss., pitcher/outfielder Mitch Moreland of Amory, Miss., and third baseman/pitcher Chad Crosswhite of Madison, Miss.

Collegiate Baseball newspaper compiled the 114-player all-American team, which was featured in the June 18 edition of the Tucson, Arizona-based publication.

Easley hit .464 with 12 home runs, 14 doubles and 55 RBI at Olive Branch High School in 2004. Moreland was 7-1 with a 1.53 earned run average and hit .456 at Amory High School, while Crosswhite was 8-1 with an 0.95 ERA and a .345 batting average at Madison Ridgeland Academy.

The three prep standouts signed with Mississippi State during last November's recruiting period and will begin their collegiate careers at MSU with the 2004-05 academic year.

Source: MSU Media Relations

06/21/04 - Baseball news...
MSU signee Edward Easley hit a game-winning double this past Saturday in a game played at Ole Miss' baseball stadium.

06/19/04 - Baseball news...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The honors list continues to grow for Mississippi State sophomore outfielder Brad Corley, who has been accorded first-team all-America team honors by North Carolina-based Baseball America.

The Louisville, Ky., native hit a team-leading .380 and helped guide the sophomore-dominated Mississippi State team to a berth in the 2004 NCAA Tournament. Corley, who hit one home run as a freshman in 2003, ripped 19 roundtrippers in 2004, the most by a Bulldog player since 1999 (Brian Wiese) and the second-most in the Southeastern Conference this season. Corley drove in 55 runs and paced MSU with 93 hits, 60 runs scored and a .678 slugging percentage.

Corley, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, has been invited to participate in the 2004 USA Baseball National Team Trials, to be held June 20-26 in Durham, N.C. The 20-man roster for the USA Baseball National Team will be selected following the trials and announced June 27.

Corley has already been accorded all-America team honors by USA TODAY/Sports Weekly (second team) and Louisville Slugger/TPX/Collegiate Baseball (third team). Twice honored as the SEC player of the week, Corley was a finalist for the inaugural Boo Ferriss Award honoring Mississippi's top collegiate player.

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STARKVILLE, Miss. - A pair of Bulldog sophomores, outfielder Brad Corley and catcher Craig Tatum, are among 26 players named to the 2004 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-South Region team.

Corley, from Lexintgon, Ky., earned a spot on the 13-member first team while Tatum, from Hattiesburg, Miss., is on the second-team. Corley joins first-team selections from the other seven regions on the national ballot for ABCA All-American honors, to be announced during the College World Series.

A dozen players from the Southeastern Conference are included on the All-South Region first team, chosen from 34 NCAA Division I baseball programs in the southeast.

Corley, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, has been invited to participate in the 2004 USA Baseball National Team Trials, to be held June 20-26 in Durham, N.C. The 20-man roster for the USA Baseball National Team will be selected following the trials and announced June 27.

Tatum, who led MSU with 60 RBI and hits at a career-best .325 clip as a sophomore, was a third round selection of Cincinnati in last week's MLB First-Year Player Draft. Tatum signed with the Reds and this weekend begins his professional baseball career playing for the Billings (Mont.) Mustangs in the Pioneer League.

Source: MSU Media Relations

06/12/04 - Baseball news...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Pitcher Josh Johnson and second baseman Jeffrey Rea have been named to the 2004 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team announced Friday in Tucson, Ariz., by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Johnson, from Caledonia, Miss., compiled a 5-1 record with a 4.06 earned run average in the just-completed season. He drew eight starts and appeared in five other games, totaling 43 strikeouts in 51 innings.

Rea, from Nettleton, Miss., started 57 of MSU's 59 games at second base. He fashioned a .324 batting average, third-highest on the team, ranking among the SECıs freshman hits leaders. Rea's 79 hits included 13 doubles, a pair of home runs and a team-high three triples. He drove in 32 runs, drew a team-leading 34 walks and paced MSU on the base paths with 11 stolen bases.

Mississippi State concluded the 2004 season with a 35-24 record, advancing to NCAA regional tournament competition for the eighth time in the last nine years and the 21st time overall.

Source: MSU Media Relations

Catcher Craig Tatum of Hattiesburg, Miss., selected by Cincinnati in the third round of this year's draft, has signed with the Reds, while a pair of Florida Marlins draftees, shortstop Steve Gendron of Tampa, Fla., and pitcher Jeff Lacher of Hattiesburg, Miss., will finalize their professional baseball contracts this weekend.

Tatum, a second-team All-SEC selection, reports to Billings, Mont., Tuesday where he'll begin his career in professional baseball with the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League. Tatum, a semifinalist for the 2004 Johnny Bench Ward, hit .325 with 16 doubles, 13 home runs and a team-leading 60 RBI. He also threw out 19 base stealers and picked off another eight runners on base.

Gendron, a 13th round draft pick of the Florida Marlins, is expected to report next week to the Jamestown (N.Y.) Jammers of the New York-Penn League. Lacher, taken by Florida in the 24th round, is expected to begin his professional baseball career in the Gulf Coast League in Jupiter, Fla.

Gendron finished third at MSU and eighth in the SEC with 316 career hits, while Lacher, who appeared in 48 games in four seasons at MSU, concluded his career with a 15-6 record and 3.96 earned run average.

Source: MSU Media Relations

06/09/04 - Baseball news...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - A pair of MSU pitchers, senior Jeff Lacher and sophomore Jamie Gant, and outfielder Jon Mungle have become the latest members of Mississippi State University's NCAA Atlanta Regional baseball team to be selected in Major League Baseball's 2004 First-Year June Draft.

Lacher, a four-year letterman from Hattiesburg, Miss., was selected in the 24th round by the Florida Marlins while Gant, a third-year sophomore from Winona, Miss., was a 37th-round pick of the Montreal Expos. Mungle was selected for the second consecutive year by the Milwaukee Brewers, going in the 44th round.

The right-hander compiled a 5-6 record and a 4.08 earned run average, leading MSU with 14 starts and 88-1/3 innings pitched. He also registered the MSU pitching staff's two complete-game pitching performances in road wins against Kentucky and Alabama and came within an out of a third route-going performance in his final collegiate appearance, a 7-6 win over Jacksonville State in the NCAA Atlanta Regional.

The MSU co-captain appeared in 48 career games, making 30 starts and compiling a 15-6 record with a 3.96 earned run average in 197-2/3 innings.

Lacher is the second Bulldog taken by the Florida Marlins in the 2004 draft. Senior shortstop Steve Gendron of Tampa, Fla., was a 13th-round pick of the Marlins on the opening day of the draft Monday. Lacher's battery mate, sophomore catcher Craig Tatum of Hattiesburg, Miss., was the first MSU player selected in this year's draft, going to the Cincinnati Reds in the third round, the highest drafting of an MSU catcher.

Gant posted a 4-6 record with a save and a 5.84 earned run average as a sophomore. He drew seven early-season starts, earning a win in MSU's 7-3 win at then-top ranked Louisiana State. He registered 46 strikeouts in 57 innings as a sophomore and sports a 10-7 career mark with two saves and a 3.55 earned run average in 39 career appearances.

Mungle, from Germantown, Tenn., sustained a season-ending knee injury the second weekend of the 2004 campaign. A .299 career hitter, Mungle hit .333 with four hits in 12 at-bats, drawing five starts in left field in his six games played. Mungle hit at a .341 clip with eight home runs and 36 RBI as a freshman and totaled seven home runs with 35 RBI as a sophomore. Milwaukee selected the former Houston High School standout in the 23rd round in last year's June draft.

Mississippi State competed in its 21st NCAA regional tournament last week and concluded the season with a 35-24 record.

Source: MSU Media Relations

06/08/04 - Baseball news...
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Catcher Craig Tatum and shortstop Steve Gendron have become the first two Mississippi State baseball players selected in Major League Baseball's 2004 First-Year Player Draft.

The Cincinnati Reds tabbed Tatum in the third round, the 78th player taken overall in this year's draft, while the Florida Marlins took Gendron in the 13th round.

The Hattiesburg, Miss., native ranked second on the MSU squad in hitting with a career-best .325. A second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection, Tatum led the Bulldogs with 60 RBI, shared the team lead with 16 doubles, and belted a career-best 13 home runs.

Tatum started all 59 Bulldog games as a sophomore and drew 108 career starts behind the dish in two seasons. A semifinalist for the 2004 Johnny Bench Award, Tatum ranked among the SEC's top defensive catchers in 2004, throwing out 19 base-stealers and picking off another eight base-runners.

Gendron, one of three players to start all 59 players for MSU this season, led Mississippi State with 29 multiple-hit games. He hit .304 as a senior with four home runs while sharing the team lead in doubles with 16 two-baggers.

A .318 career hitter, Gendron totaled 80 hits in 2004 and climbed to third on MSU's career hits chart with 316 hits, ranking eighth among the SEC's all-time career hits leaders. In 242 games played, he set the school record with 994 career at-bats, fourth-most in the SEC, and just missed MSU career top-10 status in doubles (47) and stolen bases (32).

It's the third drafting for the Tampa, Fla., product, who was chosen in the 21st round by the San Francisco Giants following his high school career at Tampa's Berkeley Prep and selected in the 14th round by the San Diego Padres in last year's draft.

Mississippi State finished the 2004 campaign with a 35-24 record after advancing to its eighth NCAA regional tournament in the last nine seasons and its 21st in the last 27 seasons.

Source: MSU Media Relations

06/07/04 - Baseball news...