Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball

Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
Founded: 1885
University	Mississippi State University
Conference	SEC West Division
Location	Starkville, MS
Head Coach	John Cohen (7th year)
Home Stadium	Dudy Noble Field (Capacity: 15,500)
Nickname	Bulldogs
Colors	Maroon and White
Overall record	2,429–1,442–20 (.627)
College World Series Runner-up
2013
College World Series Appearances
1971, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2013
NCAA Tournament Appearances
1949, 1953, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Conference Tournament Champions
1979, 1985, 1987, 1990, 2001, 2005, 2012
Conference Champions
1909, 1911, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1948, 1949, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1985, 1987, 1989

The Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team representing Mississippi State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The program is a member the West Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). John Cohen has been the program's head coach since the start of the 2009 season. The program's home venue is Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium. It has appeared in the College World Series nine times, most recently in 2013 where they earned their highest finish, losing in the finals to UCLA. The 2013 Bulldogs finished the season with a consensus #2 ranking, the highest in program history.

History

Mississippi State has won SEC Championships in 1948, 1949, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1979, 1985, 1987, and 1989. It has won the SEC Tournament in 1979, 1985, 1987, 1990, 2001, 2005, and 2012. Prior to the formation of the SEC, the program won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship in 1909, 1911, 1918, 1921, and 1922 as well as the Southern Conference title in 1924. The program has also appeared in 33 NCAA Regionals and 9 College World Series, with its highest finish being second place in 2013. Between 1992 and 2003, a Bulldogs pitcher was selected in the first round of the MLB draft 6 times.^[1]

Venue

The Bulldogs play their home games at Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium. Dubbed the "Carnegie Hall of College Baseball" by Nelle Cohen, wife of MSU skipper John Cohen,^[2] it was the host site of the first SEC tournament and holds the NCAA baseball on-campus attendance record of 15,586 spectators, set in a game against the University of Mississippi in 2014.^[3] The stadium has hosted each of the top 10 largest crowds to attend an on-campus college baseball game.^[4][5][6] In 2013 Paul Swaney, of Stadium Journey, ranked it as the number one collegiate ballpark.^[7] One of the venue's most prominent features is the Left Field Lounge, an outfield area where spectators can gather and enjoy the games in a tailgate setting, including stands built on top of old pick-up trucks and trailers.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Dudy Noble Field/Polk-Dement Stadium

In 2005, the Palmeiro Center, a 68,000-square-foot (6,300 m²) indoor practice facility, was built next to Dudy Noble. The facility, made possible by a gift from program alumnus Rafael Palmeiro and his wife Lynne, features an infield practice area, additional training area, and three batting cages. A baseball coaches' office complex located between the Palmeiro Center and Dudy Noble Field was also built in 2005. The complex, which includes a baseball heritage room, was made possible by contributions from former Bulldog players Jeff Brantley, Will Clark, Eric DuBose, Paul Maholm, Jay Powell and Bobby Thigpen, along with former MSU head coach Bo McKinnis.

Attendance

The program has set many attendance records at Dudy Noble Field. SEC weekend games usually draw the largest crowds to Dudy Noble Field. Mississippi State currently holds the NCAA record for the largest single game on-campus baseball attendance at 15,586 and the largest SEC crowd for a 3-game weekend series at 39,181. In 2007, in a Super Regional against the Clemson Tigers, Mississippi State set NCAA attendance records for Super Regional games with 12,620 and 13,715 fans. More than 5,000,000 spectators have attended games at the venue since the university started tracking attendance numbers in 1976.^[12][13] Mississippi State holds all of the top 11 and 17 of the top 25 on-campus crowds in college baseball history, including 12 crowds of over 12,000 and 35 crowds of over 10,000.

Attendance records

Below is a table of attendance records at Dudy Noble Field.

MLB First Round Draft Picks

* 1st round of the 2007 MLB Supplemental Draft

Mississippi State's 1st Team All-Americans

National awards

• Baseball America Freshman of the Year Award

Rafael Palmeiro (1983)

• Golden Spikes Award

Will Clark (1985)

• Johnny Bench Award

Ed Easley (2007)

• Baseball America College Coach of the Year

Ron Polk (1985)

SEC Awards

• Pitcher of the Year

Chris Stratton (2012)

Prominent players

Year By Year Results

50 Win Seasons

Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament

Regionals

Mississippi State host years shaded in ██ maroon.

Super Regionals

Bulldogs in the College World Series

Rivalries

In baseball, MSU has two main rivals, Louisiana State University and the University of Mississippi.

Against LSU, the Bulldogs hold a 207-175-1 all-time series lead over LSU in a series that got its start in 1907.

Against Mississippi, Mississippi State now leads the series 244-204-5. Retired Mississippi State head baseball coach, Ron Polk, was 85-49 against Mississippi. John Cohen, MSU's current coach, is 8-11 in SEC Conference games and 11-17 overall against Mississippi. The two teams play a 3-game series each year that counts in the SEC standings and one non-conference game in Jackson, MS. The game in Jackson was called the Mayor's Trophy from 1980 to 2006, and from 2007 to present the game has been called the Governor's Cup. The Mayor's Trophy series ended 14-13 in favor of the Rebels. With the 2007 season, the non-conference meeting between the two teams moved to Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi - which is the home to the Mississippi Braves. Mississippi State holds the lead in the Governor's Cup 5-4.

Mayor's Trophy/Governor's Cup

Mayor's Trophy	Jackson, Mississippi
Mississippi (14)	Mississippi St. (13)
1982 1984 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006	1980 1981 1983 1985 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1997 1998 2001
Governor's Cup	Pearl, Mississippi
Mississippi (4)	Mississippi St. (5)
2009 2010 2012 2015	2007 2008 2011 2013 2014

Mayor's Trophy

Started in 1980 by then Jackson, Mississippi Mayor Dale Danks, Jr., the Mayor's Trophy game had been one of the most anticipated match-ups of the Mississippi college baseball season as it featured Ole Miss versus Mississippi State. In the first 25 editions, the game has drawn an average of 4,887 fans per game. The Mayor's Trophy series ended after the 2006 match-up and was replaced by The Governor's Cup.

Governor's Cup

With the 2007 season, the non-conference meeting between the two teams moved to Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi - which is the home to the Mississippi Braves - and was begun anew as the two teams competed for the Governor's Cup for the first time.

• 2007 - As was the case with the Mayor's Trophy game, the two teams alternate serving as the designated home team. Mississippi, ranked #19, was the home team in the inaugural game on April 17, 2007. Mississippi State, ranked #15, won the game 14-9.

• 2008 - The unranked Bulldogs won again, 6-5, in 2008 in front of a Governor's Cup record 7,862 fans, taking a 2-0 lead in the Governor's Cup series over the #16 ranked Rebels.

• 2009 - The 17th ranked Mississippi Rebels took their first Governor's Cup on April 14, 2009 with an 8-1 victory. There was a crowd of 7,458 in attendance as Brett Bukvich recorded a career-high 11 strike-outs in six innings of work as he was named MVP. 7,458 is the 5th largest attendance mark recorded at Trustmark Park.

• 2010 - The 11th ranked Mississippi Rebels used strong pitching and steady hitting to edge Mississippi State 5-3 for their 2nd consecutive Governor's Cup victory. The MVP was Mississippi pitcher David Goforth.

• 2011 - Behind the strong pitching performances of Kendall Graveman, Chad Girodo and Taylor Stark Mississippi State rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Rebels to reclaim the cup in front of a crowd of 7,334.

• 2012 - The 22nd ranked Rebels struck out 16 Bulldog batters en route to a 6-3 victory in front of a rain-soaked crowd of 5533.

• 2013- - 16th ranked Mississippi State routed the 18th Ranked Mississippi by a score of 5-1 in front of a then stadium record crowd of 8,240.

• 2014 - 20th ranked Mississippi State defeated 12 ranked Mississippi 8-3 to claim back to back Governor's Cup wins for the first time since the 2007-2008 games. For the second year in a row, and the third time overall, both teams entered the game ranked in the top 25. The game once again set a Trustmark Park record with a crowd of 8,496.

• 2015 - Mississippi defeated Mississippi State 11-1.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball programs

External links

• SECSports.com All-Time SEC Baseball Tournament Results
• Mississippi State Baseball Medi
• Boyd's World Data
• Ron Polk Bio
• Pat McMahon Bio
• 2013 Mississippi State Universality baseball Media Guide
• Left Field Lounge News
• What is the Left Field Lounge by John Grisham

References