Baseball Travels to Mississippi State in Regular Season Finale
5/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Game 53-55: Alabama Crimson Tide at Mississippi State Bulldogs
MAY 16-18, 2003 POLK-DEMENT STADIUM Starkville, Miss.
6:30 PM (CT)
Date Game Time Radio/TV
May 16 at MSU 6:30 CT CTSN WRTR 105.5 FM
May 17 at MSU 2 CT CTSN WRTR 105.5 FM
May 18 at MSU 1:30 CT CTSN WRTR 105.5 FM
RADIO: The games will be aired locally on WRTR-FM (105.5) or WACT-AM (1420) in Tuscaloosa. David Crane and Chris Stewart will call the action.
INTERNET BROADCAST: Live stats (home games only) and audio broadcasts can be found at http://www.rolltide.com/
TICKETS: Tickets are available at the Polk-Dement Stadium ticket office two hours prior to game time each day.
RANKINGS: Miss. State is ranked in all four major polls entering the final weekend of play. Alabama is unranked for the second consecutive week.
BAMA NEEDS WIN AS REGULAR-SEASON CLOSES
The Alabama Crimson Tide baseball, losers of five straight Southeastern Conference games, closes out the 2003 regular season with a three-game series against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Dudy Noble Field. The do-or-die three-game series opens Friday, May 16 at 6:30 p.m. The Crimson Tide has lost all four SEC road series this season and six straight road series dating back to last year. Alabama's first road series win of the 2003 season will assure the Crimson Tide a berth in next week's SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met (May 21-25). Alabama won here two years ago, taking two of three from MSU during the 2001 season for its first series win in Starkville since beating the No. 1 ranked Bulldogs in 1989. The Crimson Tide's main goal is to make the SEC Tournament and enters the weekend with chance to finish anywhere from fourth to 10th in the overall league standings.
THE RECORDS
Alabama (32-20, 13-14 SEC) has lost six straight games for the first time under Coach Wells. In addition, Alabama brings a five-game SEC losing streak to Starkville this weekend. Miss. State (36-15-1, 15-11 SEC) won three midweek games this week and is fourth in the SEC Western Division entering the final weekend.
THE COACHES
Alabama's Jim Wells is in his ninth season at the Capstone, compiling a 403-172 (.701) record at the helm of the Crimson Tide. Overall, Wells is 595-260 (.695) in his 14th season as a Division I head coach. The dean of SEC coaches, Ron Polk has compiled an 1,192-573-2 (.675) record in his 30-year Hall of Fame career of coaching. Polk, now in his second stint with the Bulldogs, has compiled a 958-461-2 (.675) in 24 years at MSU. Polk has taken three different teams (Ga. Southern, Miss. State and Georgia) to the CWS.
LAST TIME OUT
Alabama lost its sixth straight game with a 5-3 loss to Jax State Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa. The loss was also UA's fifth in a row at home, its longest losing streak at the Joe since 1994. Beau Hearod's league-leading 19th home run gave Alabama a short-lived 2-0 lead in the first inning. JSU took the lead for good with three runs in the second off losing pitcher Jacob Legg.
NEXT GAME
Alabama and Miss. State meet again Saturday, May 17 at 2 p.m. here in Stakville. The series and regular-season wraps up Sunday, May 18 at 1:30 p.m.
Batting Order
No. Name Pos. B-T 2003 Stats
11 Travis Garner CF R-R .364, 2 HR, 21 RBI
1 Brandon Avalos LF R-R .267, 0 HR, 9 RBI
4 Adam Pavkovich SS R-R .327, 8 HR, 45 RBI
5 Beau Hearod RF R-R .346, 19 HR, 68 RBI
12 Zac Welch 1B L-L .333, 4 HR, 39 RBI
24 Al Hecklinski DH R-R .298, 11 HR, 47 RBI
6 Allen Rice 2B L-L .237, 6 HR, 31 RBI
18 Bobby Burns C R-R .239, 4 HR, 10 RBI
14 Evan Bush 3B R-R .163, 0 HR, 8 RBI
Key Reserves
No. Name Pos. B-T 2003 Stats
16 Ryan Beagle OF L-L .278, 0 HR, 4 RBI
37 Charlie Lyons C R-R .280, 1 HR, 10 RBI
29 John Marshall C R-R .167, 0 HR, 2 RBI
31 Nathan Meiners 3B L-R .280, 2 HR, 10 RBI
8 Trey Moody INF R-R .400, 0 HR, 1 RBI
27 Grant Redding LF R-R .283, 1 HR, 16 RBI
21 Gabe Scott OF R-R .250, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Starting Pitching Rotation
No. Name B-T 2003 Stats
40 Taylor Tankersley L-L 15 G, 13 GS, 6-4, 5.03 ERA
28 Paul Maholm L-L 12 GS, 7-2, 2.28 ERA
39 Brent Carter L-L 16 G, 13 GS, 8-5, 3.28 ERA, 4 CG
13 Alan Johnson R-R 12 GS, 5-2, 4.00 ERA, 2 CG
20 Seth Johnson R-R 18, 7 GS, 6-4, 3.63 ERA
TBA (Game 3)
Alabama Bullpen
No. Name B-T 2003 Stats
16 Ryan Beagle L-L 5 G, 3 GS, 0-0, 5.40 ERA
41 Jacob Legg L-L 4 G, 1 GS, 0-1, 4.05 ERA
42 Dewayne Marlowe R-R 1 G, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 SV
34 Eric Mennen R-R 4 G, 1-0, 6.75 ERA
9 Jeffrey Norris L-L 15 G, 9 GS, 5-2, 5.70 ERA
44 Allen Ponder R-R 13 G, 2 GS, 2-3, 5.74 ERA
25 Brian Reed R-R 24 G, 2-1, 11 SV, 2.25 ERA
38 Jared Woodward R-R 17 G, 4 GS, 2-0, 4.35 ERA
