2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team

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.

2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	West
Record	23-33 (9-21 SEC)
Head coach	Ron Polk
Hitting coach	Tommy Raffo
Pitching coach	Russ McNickle
Home stadium	Dudy Noble Field
Seasons ← 2007 2009 →

2008 Southeastern Conference baseball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Eastern
No. 2 Georgia x‍†‍‍y	20	–	9		.690			45	–	25		.643
Florida ‍‍‍y	17	–	13		.567			34	–	24		.586
No. 25 Kentucky ‍‍‍y	16	–	14		.533			44	–	19		.698
Vanderbilt ‍‍‍y	15	–	14		.517			41	–	22		.651
South Carolina ‍‍‍y	15	–	15		.500			40	–	23		.635
Tennessee  ‍‍‍	12	–	18		.400			27	–	29		.482
Western
No. 6 LSU x‍‍‡‍y	18	–	11		.621			49	–	19		.721
Alabama ‍‍‍y	16	–	14		.533			35	–	28		.556
Ole Miss ‍‍‍y	15	–	15		.500			39	–	26		.600
Arkansas ‍‍‍y	14	–	15		.483			34	–	24		.586
Auburn  ‍‍‍	11	–	19		.367			28	–	28		.500
Mississippi State  ‍‍‍	9	–	21		.300			23	–	33		.411
x – Division champion † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 2008[1] Rankings from Coaches' Poll

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
Regular Season # Date Opponent Score Site/stadium Win Loss Save Attendance Record SEC 1 February 22 at North Florida 8-2 Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville Pigott (1-0) Pryor --- 1191 1-0 2 February 23 at North Florida 9-17 Harmon Stadium Raiford Wesson (0-1) Stohr 1121 1-1 3 February 24 at North Florida 6-11 Harmon Stadium Pryor Bowen (0-1) --- 1048 1-2 4 February 26 UAB 9-2 Dudy Noble Field F. Moore (1-0) Crawford Weatherford (1) 5810 2-2 5 March 1 Air Force 3-1 Dudy Noble Field Pigott (2-0) Truesdale Weatherford (2) 6866 3-2 6 March 1 Air Force 4-6 Dudy Noble Field Pingel Crosswhite (0-1) Petro 6866 3-3 7 March 2 Air Force 16-8 Dudy Noble Field Bowen (1-1) Petro --- 6438 4-3 8 March 4 Arkansas-Little Rock 5-9 Dudy Noble Field Klumpp F. Moore (1-1) --- 5657 4-4 9 March 5 Arkansas-Little Rock 6-3 Dudy Noble Field Carver (1-0) Rominger Lalor (1) 5851 5-4 10 March 9 Baylor 4-5 Dudy Noble Field Volz Pigott (2-1) Fritsch 6021 5-5 11 March 9 Baylor 11-16 Dudy Noble Field Tolleson Crosswhite (0-2) --- 6021 5-6 12 March 10 Baylor 3-6 Dudy Noble Field Kempf Bowen (1-2) Cassavechia 5622 5-7 13 March 11 Mississippi Valley State 15-0 Dudy Noble Field Swindle (1-0) Reid --- 5725 6-7 14 March 12 Mississippi Valley State 11-5 Dudy Noble Field Wilson (1-0) Gafford --- 5725 7-7 15 March 14 Ole Miss 6-15 Dudy Noble Field Lynn F. Moore (1-2) Morgan 6571 7-8 0-1 16 March 15 Ole Miss 6-11 Dudy Noble Field Bittle Lalor (0-1) --- 7482 7-9 0-2 17 March 16 Ole Miss 4-0 Dudy Noble Field Bowen (2-2) Baker --- 3025 8-9 1-2 18 March 18 at UAB 24-10 Young Memorial Field Swindle (2-0) Huddleston --- 575 9-9 19 March 21 at South Carolina 1-9 Sarge Frye Field Cisco Carver (1-1) --- 4810 9-10 1-3 20 March 22 at South Carolina 1-4 Sarge Frye Field Atwood Swindle (2-1) Todd 5029 9-11 1-4 21 March 23 at South Carolina 3-10 Sarge Frye Field Cooper Bowen (2-3) 4313 9-12 1-5 22 March 25 South Alabama 5-6 Dudy Noble Field LaGrow Houston (0-1) G.Johnson 5866 9-13 23 March 26 South Alabama 7-6(11) Dudy Noble Field Crosswhite (1-2) Dunning 6037 10-13 24 March 28 Georgia 3-2(10) Dudy Noble Field Crosswhite (2-2) Fields 7564 11-13 2-5 25 March 29 Georgia 1-5 Dudy Noble Field Dodson Swindle (2-2) 9424 11-14 2-6 26 March 30 Georgia 3-5(10) Dudy Noble Field McRee Lalor (0-2) Fields 6426 11-15 2-7 27 April 1 Austin Peay 13-4 Dudy Noble Field Wilson (2-0) Brisbin 5817 12-15 28 April 2 Austin Peay 10-2 Dudy Noble Field Holinghead (1-0) Kole 5862 13-15 29 April 4 at Kentucky 6-5 Cliff Hagan Stadium Lalor (1-2) Baber Weatherford (3) 14-15 3-7 30 April 5 at Kentucky 4-13 Cliff Hagan Stadium Green Swindle (2-3) 2772 14-16 3-8 31 April 6 at Kentucky 8-9 Cliff Hagan Stadium Paxton Busby (0-1) 2696 14-17 3-9 32 April 8 at Memphis 8-9(10) AutoZone Park Martin Busby (0-2) 729 14-18 33 April 11 Vanderbilt 8-15 Dudy Noble Field Minor Busby (0-3) 6330 14-19 3-10 34 April 12 Vanderbilt 0-16 Dudy Noble Field Cotham Bowen (2-4) 6165 14-20 3-11 35 April 13 Vanderbilt 3-4 Dudy Noble Field Christiani Lalor (1-3) Brewer 5827 14-21 3-12 36 April 15 vs. Ole Miss 6-5 Trustmark Park Weatherford (1-0) Baker 7862 15-21 37 April 19 at Alabama 7-21 Sewell-Thomas Stadium Hyatt Crosswhite (2-3) 15-22 3-13 38 April 19 at Alabama 6-4 Sewell-Thomas Stadium Lalor (2-3) Quigley Weatherford (4) 5215 16-22 4-13 39 April 20 at Alabama 3-4 Sewell-Thomas Stadium Graham Busby (0-4) 4201 16-23 4-14 40 April 22 at Southern Miss 7-11 Pete Taylor Park Johnston Whitney (0-1) Weathers 4525 16-24 41 April 23 at Southern Miss 7-12 Pete Taylor Park Ballinger Hollinghead (1-1) 4464 16-25 42 April 25 Tennessee 4-3(12) Dudy Noble Field Weatherford (2-0) Rosas 6170 17-25 5-14 43 April 26 Tennessee 9-12 Dudy Noble Field Morgado Bowen (2-5) 6174 17-26 5-15 44 April 27 Tennessee 7-3(8) Dudy Noble Field Lalor(3-3) Harris 6027 18-26 6-15 45 May 2 at Auburn 4-11 Samford Stadium Dayton Crosswhite (2-4) 2115 18-27 6-16 46 May 3 at Auburn 4-3 Samford Stadium Bowen (3-5) Thompson Weatherford(5) 2523 19-27 7-16 47 May 4 at Auburn 2-12 Samford Stadium Greinke Pigott (2-2) Woodall 2306 19-28 7-17 48 May 6 at MTSU 5-20 Reese Smith Field Alvis Whitney (0-2) Hyde 921 19-29 49 May 7 at MTSU 4-3 Reese Smith Field Busby(1-4) Francescon Weatherford(6) 713 20-29 50 May 9 at LSU 6-15 Alex Box Stadium Coleman Crosswhite(2-5) 8548 20-30 7-18 51 May 10 at LSU 4-16 Alex Box Stadium B. Martin Bowen(3-6) 8312 20-31 7-19 52 May 11 at LSU 6-9 Alex Box Stadium Bradford Pigott (2-3) Bradshaw 8701 20-32 7-20 53 May 13 Memphis 4-1 Dudy Noble Field Crosswhite (3-5) Martin Weatherford (7) 5731 21-32 54 May 15 Arkansas 6-5 Dudy Noble Field Weatherford(3-0) Wells 5865 22-32 8-20 55 May 16 Arkansas 6-5 Dudy Noble Field Wilson (3-0) Bolsinger 6177 23-32 9-20 56 May 17 Arkansas 10-15 Dudy Noble Field Mahler Weatherford(3-1) 6738 23-33 9-21

References

1. "College Baseball Conference Standings – 2008". boydsworld.com. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
2. "College Baseball Recruiting Results". Archived from the original on January 22, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
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". Archived from the original on September 20, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
11. "Russ McNickle Bio @ MStateAthletics.com". Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
12. "Tommy Raffo Bio @ MStateAthletics.com". Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
13. Wade Hedges Bio @ MStateAthletics.com