Diamond Dawgs Open Again South Alabama In Hattiesburg Regional

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – On Friday at Pete Taylor Park, Mississippi State begins its Road To Omaha in the Hattiesburg Regional with the 36th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

The Diamond Dawgs will take on South Alabama for the fourth time in 2017, with a 6 p.m. CT first pitch on ESPN3, which is available via WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.

Two-seed MSU (36-24) will be joined in the four-team, double-elimination regional by host Southern Miss (48-14), three-seed and Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champion South Alabama (39-19) and four-seed and Horizon League Tournament Champion University of Illinois at Chicago (39-15).

The winner of the Hattiesburg Regional will take on the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional for a best-of-three Super Regional series with a trip to the College World Series at stake.

VIDEO: Andy Cannizaro previews State's trip to the Hattiesburg Regional

Game Notes | Hattiesburg Regional Central

REGIONAL SCHEDULE (All times CT)
Friday, June 2, 2017
G1 - 1 p.m. – No. 1 Southern Miss vs. No. 4 UIC
G2 - 6 p.m. – No. 2 Mississippi State vs. No. 3 South Alabama

Saturday, June 3, 2017
G3 - 1 p.m. - Loser of G1 vs. Loser of G2
G4 - 6 p.m. - Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2

Sunday, June 4, 2017
G5 - 1 p.m. - Winner of G3 vs. Loser of G4
G6 - 6 p.m. - Winner of G4 vs. Winner of G5

Monday, June 5, 2017
* G7 - 6 p.m. - If Necessary

STATE VS. THE FIELD
Friday's meeting between the Bulldogs and Jaguars will be the fourth time the two sides have met this season, State won two of the first three meetings, and the second all-time NCAA Tournament meeting between MSU and USA (The first came in the 2013 Starkville Regional, a 6-2 win for State in the 1-0 game).

MSU has never played UIC in the history of the two programs, while State has already played Southern Miss once in 2017 (A 7-5 midweek win for the Golden Eagles in Pearl, Miss.). State and USM have only met once before in the NCAA Tournament, a 3-0 win for MSU in the opening game of the 2011 Atlanta Regional.

NEED TO KNOW

22 of MSU's 35 wins this season have come in comeback fashion, with 13 of those having come against Southeastern Conference opponents.
State is now 27-2 this season when leading after six innings, 22-11 when hitting a home run, 32-5 when holding opponents to four or fewer runs and 32-8 when outhitting opponents.
The Bulldogs are 9-0 in their last nine games decided by one run and 12-5 in one-run games on the year.
In Year One of the Andy Cannizaro Era, the Diamond Dawg offense is putting up numbers that are far ahead of the 2016 offense. Last season, State hit 47 home runs and recorded 51 steals over the course of the 63-game season. Through 60 games this season, MSU has hit 51 home runs and stolen 69 bases.
Cannizaro is just the second MSU coach to achieve 30 or more victories in his very first season at the helm and make the NCAA Tournament. (Pat McMahon won 42 in 1998 & reached the College World Series)
Hunter Stovall is riding a team-best six-game hit streak and is hitting .346 (9-for-26) over that stretch with one home run and four RBIs.
Since becoming the leadoff hitter vs. Troy on May 16, Ryan Gridley is hitting .361 (13-for-36) with a home run, one double, seven runs scored and four RBIs.
Since moving to the third slot in the batting order on May 16, Jake Mangum is hitting .306 (11-for-36), with six RBIs and two runs scored.

SEC POSTSEASON HONORS

Brent Rooker is the first MSU player to ever be named SEC Player of the Year, while he is the second Diamond Dawg first baseman in as many seasons to be named First Team All-SEC. (Nathaniel Lowe, 2016)
Ryan Gridley became the first Bulldog shortstop since Thomas Berkery in 2006 to be named First Team All-SEC and the third First Team shortstop under Andy Cannizaro in as many seasons.
Jake Mangum has now been named All-SEC for the second time in as many seasons (First Team in 2016), along with being the first Diamond Dawg named to the SEC All-Defensive Team since 2014 and the first MSU outfielder since 2013 (Hunter Renfroe).

DIAMOND DAWG DIGITS

MSU ranks third in the SEC in hits (583), triples (14), hit by pitch (71) and stolen bases (67), along with ranking fourth in doubles (106), batting average (.285), slugging percentage (.425) and total bases (870).
Brent Rooker leads the SEC in nine offensive categories – batting average (.404), slugging (.843), on-base percentage (.505), hits (90), RBIs (76), doubles (29), home runs (21), total bases (188) and stolen bases (18).
Entering the week, Rooker ranked among the best in Division I, first in doubles and slugging, along with sitting second in total bases, third in rbis, fourth in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage & home runs and seventh in hits.
Ryan Gridley ranks fifth in the SEC in hits (79), while ranking 11th in batting average (.328).
Konnor Pilkington ranks second in the SEC in batters struck out looking (33) and fifth in strikeouts (98).
Spencer Price stands atop the SEC for saves with 14, while ranking eighth in the nation.

HAVING A RECORD YEAR
With 60 games of the 2017 complete, State has accomplished many things that haven't been seen from the Diamond Dawgs in years

First four-game regular season sweep of Ole Miss since 1997.
The Bulldogs have now won back-to-back series vs. Ole Miss for the first time since 2000-2003, when MSU won four straight series.
First series win at South Carolina since 1998.
Andy Cannizaro became just the second MSU head coach to win 30 or more games in his first season at the helm (Pat McMahon won 42 in 1998 en route to a College World Series berth).
MSU has won 15 SEC series over the last two seasons (six in 2017 and nine in 2016), the most SEC series wins by a Bulldog team in consecutive seasons since 1988-89 (15).
Brent Rooker became the single-season leader for doubles by an MSU player.
Rooker's 21 homers are the most by an MSU batter since Tommy Raffo hit 22 in 1989. Rooker is tied for sixth in the MSU record books for home runs in a single season with 20.
Rooker became the first MSU player to be named SEC Player of the Year.
Brent Rooker is the first player in MSU history to be named SEC Player of the Week three times in a single season and second Diamond Dawg to be named SEC Player of the Week four times in their career. (Tommy Raffo, 1988-90)
School record for slugging percentage is .886 by Rafael Palmeiro in 1984. (Rooker's is currently .843)
State has not had players bat over. 400 in back-to-back seasons since Brian Weise (.412) and Travis Chapman (.403) accomplished the feat in 1998 and 1999, respectively. (Jake Mangum batted .408 in 2016 and Brent Rooker is currently hitting .404 in 2017)
Spencer Price has the most saves (14) since Jonathan Holder set the school record with 21 saves in 2013. As a team, MSU has 21 saves, the most since 24 in 2013, which is also the school record. (SEC record is 27)
State's 22 come-from-behind wins this season are the most by an MSU team since the 2013 College World Series team had 29 comeback wins.

WEEKEND WEATHER FORECAST
Friday Forecast: High 82, Low 67 – Cloudy – 20% Chance of Rain
Saturday Forecast: High 80, Low 68 – Thunderstorms – 80% Chance of Rain
Sunday Forecast: High 82, Low 69 – Thunderstorms – 90% Chance of Rain
Monday Forecast: High 83, Low 69 – Thunderstorms – 90% Chance of Rain

LIVE VIDEO & TELEVISION
Every game of the Hattiesburg Regional will air live on ESPN3, which can be streamed through the WatchESPN app, ESPN app and WatchESPN.com.

Watch Friday's Game

LIVE AUDIO & RADIO
All of MSU's games in the Hattiesburg Regional will air live on the Mississippi State Baseball Radio Network. They will also be on TuneIn Radio and will be audio streamed live online at HailState.com/Plus.

TICKET INFO
Tickets for the Hattiesburg Regional are sold out, but some remaining tickets may be made available two hours prior to first pitch of each game at the Pete Taylor Park ticket office.

FOLLOWING THE DIAMOND DAWGS
For more information on the Diamond Dawg program, follow the program on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateBB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."

Mississippi State University Athletics

Diamond Dawgs Open Again South Alabama In Hattiesburg Regional

Players Mentioned

Ryan Gridley

Nathaniel Lowe

Jake Mangum

Konnor Pilkington

Spencer Price

Brent Rooker

Hunter Stovall

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