2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team

2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
Conference Southeastern Conference West
2008 record 23-33 (9-21 SEC)
Head coach Ron Polk
Hitting coach Tommy Raffo
Pitching coach Russ McNickle
Home stadium Dudy Noble Field
2008 Southeastern Conference baseball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
Eastern
Georgia x 20 9   .690     45 25   .643
Florida 17 13   .567     34 24   .586
Kentucky 16 14   .533     44 19   .698
Vanderbilt 15 14   .517     41 22   .651
South Carolina 15 15   .500     40 23   .635
Tennessee 12 18   .400     27 29   .482
Western
LSU x 18 11   .621     49 19   .721
Alabama 16 14   .533     35 28   .556
Ole Miss 15 15   .500     39 26   .600
Arkansas 14 15   .483     34 24   .586
Auburn 11 19   .367     28 28   .500
Mississippi State 9 21   .300     23 33   .411
x Division champion
2008 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament champion
As of June 30, 2008[1]; Rankings from Coaches' Poll

The 2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represented Mississippi State University in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2008. The team was coached by Ron Polk, in his 35th year as a collegiate head coach, and his 29th at Mississippi State. During mid-season, Coach Polk announced he would resign effective at the conclusion of the season. Following the conclusion of the season, former MSU standout and University of Kentucky Head Baseball coach John Cohen was announced by incoming AD Greg Bryne as the new Mississippi State Baseball Coach for 2009.

Pre-Season

The 2008 version of the Mississippi State Bulldogs Baseball team were looking to build on the success of the 2007 MSU Baseball Campaign after advancing to the College World Series. Based upon the achievements the year before, the recruiting class of 2008 was ranked 26th by Collegiate Baseball[2] The team was predicted to finish second in the SEC West Mississippi State was ranked 24th in the preseason NCBWA poll,[3] 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll,[4] and 19th in the Rivals.com preseason poll[5]

Infielder Brandon Turner was named to the 2008 preseason Louisville Slugger TPX 2008 All-America second team[6] and to the Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list.[7] Pitcher Aaron Weatherford was named to the preseason watch list for the NCWBA Stopper of the Year Award.[8] Turner and Weatherford were both named to the preseason watch list for the 2008 Brooks Wallace Award.[9]

Roster and Stats

Coaches

Name Title First Season at MSU Alma Mater
Ron Polk[10] Head Coach 1976 Grand Canyon College (1965)
Russ McNickle[11] Assistant Coach 2002 University of South Alabama (1988)
Tommy Raffo[12] Assistant Coach 1998 Mississippi State University (1990)
Wade Hedges[13] Volunteer Assistant Coach 2004 Florida Southern College (1996)

Players

# Player Pos B T YR Hometown G AB H AVG HR RBI BB SB FLD%
2 Brandon Turner 2B L R SO Cleveland, TN 8 23 5 .217 1 4 0 0 1.000
3 Grant Hogue OF S R JR Hattiesburg, MS 55 197 63 .320 0 13 21 25 .943
5 Russ Sneed 3B/SS R R SO Senatobia, MS 56 215 59 .274 2 26 31 5 .940
7 Ryan Powers SS/2B R R FR Beacon, NY 40 92 22 .239 0 10 12 0 .944
8 Brooks Lewis C R R JR Heidelberg, MS 23 17 4 .235 0 2 3 0 .980
11 Tyler Moore 1B R R JR Brandon, MS 56 204 61 .299 14 46 21 5 .982
13 Jet Butler SS/2B S R SO Pensacola, FL 55 181 49 .271 1 24 16 0 .953
14 Ryan Duffy C L R SO West Melbourne, FL 42 121 37 .306 7 25 4 0 .980
15 Mark Goforth OF L R JR Covington, TN 46 101 31 .307 0 10 12 3 1.000
16 Will Coggin 2B R R JR Booneville, MS 8 4 0 .000 0 1 1 0 1.000
18 Jason Nappi OF R R FR Birmingham, AL 53 197 54 .274 8 37 32 1 .897
19 Andy Rice OF L L SR Amory, MS 31 61 16 .262 1 9 8 0 .972
20 Nick Hardy OF R R JR Flora, MS. 49 76 20 .263 2 13 14 2 .950
23 Cade Hoggard OF R R SO Oxford, MS 20 18 1 .056 0 0 5 0 1.000
25 Connor Powers 3B R R SO Naperville, IL 35 135 47 .348 11 38 18 2 .915
26 Scott DeLoach C R R JR Madison, MS 5 1 1 1.000 0 0 0 0 1.000
27 Jeff Flagg OF R R JR Jacksonville, FL 34 50 9 .180 1 6 9 0 1.000
29 Cody Freeman C R R FR Collinsville, MS 38 116 36 .310 2 20 15 1 1.000
36 Johnny Allen C R R JR Grenada, MS 22 47 12 .255 0 5 4 0 .979
38 Ryan Collins OF L L FR Callaway, FL 43 119 41 .345 3 23 26 3 .983
45 Michael Busby P/SS R R FR Vicksburg, MS 3 4 3 .750 0 1 0 0 1.000

Pitchers

# Player T Yr Hometown G GS IP W L SV ERA H BB SO FLD%
4 Forrest Moore L FR Baton Rouge, LA 19 4 45.1 1 2 0 8.14 52 39 46 .900
6 Justin Pigott L SR Picayune, MS 9 9 44.2 2 3 0 5.04 51 16 44 1.000
9 Greg Houston R SO Hoover, AL 14 2 25.2 0 1 0 7.36 44 16 18 1.000
10 Andy Wilson L SR Columbus, GA 16 1 35.0 3 0 0 5.66 40 13 27 .778
12 Tyler Whitney L SO Lakeland, TN 10 5 20.0 0 2 0 10.80 29 19 20 1.000
17 Chad Crosswhite R JR Brandon, MS 19 11 53.1 3 5 0 9.96 82 27 36 .909
24 Jared Koon R JR Tupelo, MS 2 0 1.2 0 0 0 10.80 2 1 0 1.000
30 John Lalor R SR Germantown, TN 21 2 42.1 3 3 1 3.19 38 14 56 1.000
31 Ricky Bowen R SO Jasper, AL 15 13 73.1 3 6 0 7.61 84 41 64 .889
32 Aaron Weatherford R JR Crystal Springs, MS 18 0 31.2 3 1 7 0.85 10 10 62 1.000
34 Jesse Carver L SR Starkville, MS 15 2 33.2 1 1 0 9.09 57 14 27 1.000
35 Jared Wesson L JR Tupelo, MS 7 1 4.2 0 1 0 19.29 7 12 3 --
41 Lee Swindle R JR Eupora, MS 11 4 35.1 2 3 0 6.37 52 14 13 1.000
44 Drew Hollinghead R SO Leakesville, MS 6 2 10.0 1 1 0 6.30 8 9 5 1.000
45 Michael Busby R FR Vicksburg, MS 19 0 37.0 1 4 0 5.84 39 29 30 1.000

These players are on the roster, but did not appear in a game and were redshirted.

# Player Pos B T YR Hometown
28 Shawn Marquardt P R L FR Carmel, IN
33 Paxton Pace P/2B R L FR Collinsville, MS
42 Brent Brownlee OF R R FR Oxford, MS
48 Luke Adkins OF L L JR Nettleton, MS
49 Sean Johnson OF R R JR Senatobia, MS
50 Ryan Rubino SS/2B R R FR Bradenton, FL
51 Bobby Triglia 3B/C R R FR Jacksonville, FL

Schedule and results

2008 Game Log

References

  1. "College Baseball Conference Standings -- 2008". boydsworld.com. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  2. College Baseball Recruiting Results
  3. Diamond Dogs 24th In Preseason NCBWA Poll - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  4. Baseball Bulldogs 23rd In USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  5. State Ranked 19th In Rivals.com Preseason Baseball Poll - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  6. MSU's Turner Nabs Another All-America Honor; Diamond Dogs 27th In Collegiate Baseball Poll - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  7. Brandon Turner Named To Golden Spikes Award Watch List - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  8. MSU's Weatherford On Watch List For NCBWA Stopper Of The Year Award - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  9. Turner, Weatherford Represent MSU On Wallace Award Watch List - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletics Site - MStateAthletics.com
  10. Ron Polk Bio @ MStateAthletics.com
  11. Russ McNickle Bio @ MStateAthletics.com
  12. Tommy Raffo Bio @ MStateAthletics.com
  13. Wade Hedges Bio @ MStateAthletics.com