We're Number 1 !!!!!!!
We're number one
Can't be number two
We're gonna beat the whoopee outta you!
Diamond Dawgs are #1!
Baseball America rates Mississippi State, the nation's only undefeated college baseball team, as the No. 1 team in the USA.That's good.The Bulldogs have won their first 15 games, the best start in school history — better even than the 1985 team that included future major league greats Will Clark, Jeff Brantley, Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Thigpen.
That's really good. If the Bulldogs beat UAB in Starkville tonight, they will have achieved the longest win streak in school history.That's really, really good.So, in the overall scheme of things, what does all this mean?Not much.Not much at all.
State still has 40 games to play, including 27 against Southeastern Conference teams. State plays at LSU this weekend and at Alabama next weekend. That unblemished record potentially could have some big splotches really soon.Don't take it from me. Ask Ron Polk."I'll tell you like I told our players," Polk said Monday morning, "let's not get too carried away. We're still early in the season. This is baseball. Things can change in a hurry."I know this much. We're not going to be 56 and 0."
BATTING .323 AS TEAM
Actually, things are almost certain to change in a hurry. That's baseball. Take that 1985 team, for example. Those Bulldogs, surely the best in school history, won 14 straight to start the season, then lost their next three.The season is more a marathon than a sprint. Fast starters are often slow finishers and vice-versa. Take last year's Bulldogs, who barely made the SEC Tournament, then got hot and won the championship.Perhaps the best asset these Bulldogs, mostly upperclassmen, have is that they have experienced both the highs and lows of college baseball. They understand the game. They have what coaches wish they could bottle: experience. Polk said as much.
"We're good because we're veterans," he said. "We've got a bunch of guys who have been around. We've only got one new position player in the lineup."No, there's nobody who's going to remind you of Clark or Palmeiro, but the Bulldogs' lineup is chock-full of players who know how to use a bat and put the ball in play. The Bulldogs are hitting more than 100 points higher than their opponents (.323-.222).
NO EASY OUTS HERE
Again, don't take it from me. Keith Kessinger, the former Ole Miss standout, coaches a really good Arkansas State team that owns victories over Ole Miss, Kentucky and Michigan State. The Indians lost three straight in a weekend series at Starkville."They throw strikes and they catch everything," Kessinger said of the Bulldogs. "They run everything down in the outfield. They defend the field as well as anybody I've seen in my years of college baseball. They didn't give us anything in three days."They don't have anybody that scares you to death at the plate or on the mound," Kessinger continued. "They are proof you don't have to be spectacular to win baseball games. Experience is a big deal, and they have a lot of it."
Another Bulldog strength: While there might not be a Will Clark in the lineup, there are no easy outs either. Jeff Butts, who bats ninth in the order, hits .319, is second on the team in RBIs and was the MVP of last year's SEC Tournament. Not too shabby for a nine-hole hitter.Nine different Bulldogs hitters have accounted for the ballclub's 10 home runs. Now that's balance.State's pitching staff has been even more impressive. The team earned run average is 2.07, ridiculously low in college baseball. That's mostly because the Bulldogs are filling up the strike zone. State pitchers have struck out 117 batters, while walking only 32.But again, it's early yet. Jim Ellis, the Bulldogs' knowledgeable play-by-play man, may have put it best when asked, "How good are these guys?"
Said Ellis, "I think it's a good team, certainly Polk's best since he's been back. But ask me again in two weeks. We'll know a lot more after playing at LSU and Alabama."If nothing else, the Bulldogs have surely impressed the people at Baseball America. Will Kimmey, that magazine's national college baseball writer, was asked on a Web site Q and A if State is for real:Ê"Frauds have a hard time winning 15 straight games," Kimmey wrote. "MSU has as much pitching depth as any team in the country. ... The funny thing is, amid this school-record start and winning streak, the Bulldogs aren't even hitting well yet. They've left 144 guys on base in 15 games."That's another way of looking at it, a scary way: 15-0, ranked No. 1, and with room for improvement.
Contact Columnist Rick Cleveland at (601) 961-7210 or rcleveland@clarionledger.com
That's really good. If the Bulldogs beat UAB in Starkville tonight, they will have achieved the longest win streak in school history.That's really, really good.So, in the overall scheme of things, what does all this mean?Not much.Not much at all.
State still has 40 games to play, including 27 against Southeastern Conference teams. State plays at LSU this weekend and at Alabama next weekend. That unblemished record potentially could have some big splotches really soon.Don't take it from me. Ask Ron Polk."I'll tell you like I told our players," Polk said Monday morning, "let's not get too carried away. We're still early in the season. This is baseball. Things can change in a hurry."I know this much. We're not going to be 56 and 0."
BATTING .323 AS TEAM
Actually, things are almost certain to change in a hurry. That's baseball. Take that 1985 team, for example. Those Bulldogs, surely the best in school history, won 14 straight to start the season, then lost their next three.The season is more a marathon than a sprint. Fast starters are often slow finishers and vice-versa. Take last year's Bulldogs, who barely made the SEC Tournament, then got hot and won the championship.Perhaps the best asset these Bulldogs, mostly upperclassmen, have is that they have experienced both the highs and lows of college baseball. They understand the game. They have what coaches wish they could bottle: experience. Polk said as much.
"We're good because we're veterans," he said. "We've got a bunch of guys who have been around. We've only got one new position player in the lineup."No, there's nobody who's going to remind you of Clark or Palmeiro, but the Bulldogs' lineup is chock-full of players who know how to use a bat and put the ball in play. The Bulldogs are hitting more than 100 points higher than their opponents (.323-.222).
NO EASY OUTS HERE
Again, don't take it from me. Keith Kessinger, the former Ole Miss standout, coaches a really good Arkansas State team that owns victories over Ole Miss, Kentucky and Michigan State. The Indians lost three straight in a weekend series at Starkville."They throw strikes and they catch everything," Kessinger said of the Bulldogs. "They run everything down in the outfield. They defend the field as well as anybody I've seen in my years of college baseball. They didn't give us anything in three days."They don't have anybody that scares you to death at the plate or on the mound," Kessinger continued. "They are proof you don't have to be spectacular to win baseball games. Experience is a big deal, and they have a lot of it."
Another Bulldog strength: While there might not be a Will Clark in the lineup, there are no easy outs either. Jeff Butts, who bats ninth in the order, hits .319, is second on the team in RBIs and was the MVP of last year's SEC Tournament. Not too shabby for a nine-hole hitter.Nine different Bulldogs hitters have accounted for the ballclub's 10 home runs. Now that's balance.State's pitching staff has been even more impressive. The team earned run average is 2.07, ridiculously low in college baseball. That's mostly because the Bulldogs are filling up the strike zone. State pitchers have struck out 117 batters, while walking only 32.But again, it's early yet. Jim Ellis, the Bulldogs' knowledgeable play-by-play man, may have put it best when asked, "How good are these guys?"
Said Ellis, "I think it's a good team, certainly Polk's best since he's been back. But ask me again in two weeks. We'll know a lot more after playing at LSU and Alabama."If nothing else, the Bulldogs have surely impressed the people at Baseball America. Will Kimmey, that magazine's national college baseball writer, was asked on a Web site Q and A if State is for real:Ê"Frauds have a hard time winning 15 straight games," Kimmey wrote. "MSU has as much pitching depth as any team in the country. ... The funny thing is, amid this school-record start and winning streak, the Bulldogs aren't even hitting well yet. They've left 144 guys on base in 15 games."That's another way of looking at it, a scary way: 15-0, ranked No. 1, and with room for improvement.
Contact Columnist Rick Cleveland at (601) 961-7210 or rcleveland@clarionledger.com
posted by Auntie Tracye @ 6:06 PM
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