| 1996 | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | January |
02/28/97 - Miss State's Ron Polk won his 1,000th game Thursday. Eric DuBose won the game. He went 7 innings, allowing 6 hits, 9 Ks, and 3 earned runs. Freshman Matt Ginter pitched the ninth and struck out the last two batters he faced. Have we found our closer? Brooks Bryan continued to shined. I know he got a couple of hits, at least, not sure of the exact number. It's difficult for me to get info on these day games. We won 11-4 over Delta State, a very good team.
02/27/97 - Miss State beat Southeast Missouri 10-4 Wednesday. Brooks Bryan continues to be a hot hitter, with 4 hits yesterday. He had a double and a home run along with 4 RBI. Sure hope this guys is the real deal. Miss State's defense seems to be improving also. There were no errors until some of the subs came in. Keith Dilgard had better stuff this time out. It appears the Diamond Dawgs are getting the rust out and are starting to play like the team we expected.
02/26/97 - The Bulldogs took their frustrations out on the Southeast Missouri baseball team Tuesday. The final score was 13-3. I didn't get to hear or see the game because I was at work, but I did hear a little of the postgame show. It was mentioned that Brian Wiese got the victory while pitching 6 innings. Rob Hauswald and Brooks Bryan hit home runs. I believe Bryan also got two other hits. He really appears to be an outstanding hitter. Polk also mentioned that the DH role would be filled by Dustin Dabbs and Rusty Thoms this year. He also said we have two young hitters that he believes will be outstanding hitters for Miss State in the future; Brian Terry and Travis Chapman. It sounded like he would like to play them more this year, but there is no where to play them.
For those that didn't hear the Mississippi Sports Talk Show Monday night, Ron Polk said next year would definitely be his last year and this year could possibly be it for him. He said he would know in April if he wants to come back one more year. He said after he finishes his coaching career at State, he plans on being an Assistant Athletic Director at Miss State.
02/26/97 - Bad news for the Bulldog pitching staff: Scott Polk has a torn ligament in is right elbow. He will be out the rest of the season, but will be granted a medical redshirt, and, hopefully, be back at full strength by the time fall practice rolls around. Look for Matt Ginter to move up to Polk's spot on the pitching staff.
02/25/97 - Here's the latest Sam Potts update. Sam went 2 for 4, a single and a double, with 2 RBI's against Amory in the first game of a double-header. He also threw out one runner out trying to steal and picked one off of first base. In the second game of the double-header, good durability by Sam, he went 2 for 4 again with 1 RBI. BTW, Kosciusko won both games, 15-5 and 5-4. If anyone knows of another player that one or more of the big-three schools are looking at, let me know. I'll more than be happy to post the info. This is one of the really fun parts of having this page; trying to help out deserving young Mississippi players.
02/25/97 - A player I am going to be watching this year is Neil Phillips of Caledonia HS. I have been told that his coach, former Ole Miss pitcher Matt Smith, feels Neil has the ability to play in the SEC. Neil has received a letter from Ron Polk asking him if he would be interested in the recruited walkon program at Miss State. Neil, who has been the starting shortstop for Caledonia since his sophomore year, batted .398 last year with 26 runs scored and 20 RBIs. He also had a .529 on base percentage, an outstanding number. Another thing that stands out about Neil is how seldom he strikes out; 9 times in 102 at bats during his junior year, and only 18 times in 213 total at bats during his career. Another fact that stands out is he has never been caught stealing during his career.
According to people who have seen him play, he is a very good defensive shortstop with a very accurate arm. He is a clutch hitter and a clutch fielder, a rarity in baseball. I really look forward to seeing this young man play this year. If any of you have any contacts with any colleges out there, tell them about Neil. I'll keep all of you informed about how Neil does this year and who he eventually signs with. Some college is going to get an outstanding shorstop. I, for one, hopes he decides to walkon at Miss State.
02/24/97 - Just got some baseball info in. South Alabama's pitcher Jason Norton, a preseason 2nd team all-american, 3-hit the Bulldogs yesterday. He is now 2-1 with a ERA of 1.52 in 29 2/3 innings. He just happened to be hot yesterday. It happens. Defensively, we made 3 errors, none of which hurt us. Of the 3 hits, Rusty Thoms had 2 and Adam Piatt 1, a double. Our fielding appears to be about the same as last year, so it looks like we will have to cover it up with timely hitting and solid pitching. Polk said we hit a lot of hard ground balls, but right at folks. It appears we were snakebit the two games at South Alabama. As Polk says that's baseball.
02/24/97 - Miss State signee Enrico Jones, of Pascagoula, had a double in his first game of the season. If any of you hear about how any of our signees did, let me know. I'm sure a lot of you want to know how our baseball signees are doing. I know I do.
02/24/97 - Miss State lost 6-1 Sunday to South Alabama. Not sure of any details, since I was at the basketball game. I forgot to tell you the score of Saturday's game. It was 5-4, a loss by our Bulldogs. Don't worry, it's early in the season. Once we get a nice winning streak going, no one will remember these two losses.
02/23/97 - To read an excellent eyewitness account of Saturday's baseball game, click here.
02/23/97 - Good news and bad news about one of our baseball signees. Aaron Capista, of Shorewood, IL., was listed as one of the top 25 high school baseball players in the country by USA Today. It's great to see him achieve such outstanding recognition, but it sure doesn't look like he will be playing at MSU next year. Look for him to be a high draft choice during the June Major League Draft.
02/22/97 - The Bulldog Bombers were out in force today. Count them, we had five home runs Friday in our opening day 15-5 victory over Samford! Brian Terry, Richard Lee, Brad Freeman, Travis Chapman and Barry Patton all hit the ball out of the park Friday. Some of these home runs were wind aided due to a 25 MPH wind blowing out to leftfield. Brian Terry, who hit a ball that must have travelled 390' and hit the base of the scoreboard in RF, and Travis Chapman, both freshmen, hit a home run in their first at bats as Bulldogs. Look for great things from both of these guys next year. Matt Ginter, another freshman, was clocked at 90-91 MPH during the two innings he pitched. He allowed 1 hit, struck out two and walked one. Van Johnson picked up the victory for the Bulldogs. Some of the hitting heroes were: Damian Scioneaux 2-3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Adam Piatt 2-5, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Richard Lee 2-3, 1 HR, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Brad Freeman 3-3, 1 HR, 2 Runs, 3 RBI; Barry Patton 1-2, 1 HR, 2 Run, 1 RBI.
02/21/97 - The big day is finally here. The Diamond Dawgs are getting ready to strut their stufff. The freshmen of 1995 are now the juniors of 1997 and are ready to show the college baseball world why they were the best college recruiting class in years. Names like DuBose, Piatt, Hauswald, Dilgard, Lee, Freeman, Reinike, Jackson, Wheeler, Polk, Johnson, Wiese, Patton, Dabbs, Thoms, Bryan, Peeples, Scioneaux, Ginter, Terry and Donavan will all be well known before this season is over. This team has a great chance to be something special. The pitching will be awesome and the depth will be phenomenal. Look for some new names to make their present know on our pitching staff, names such as Ginter and Reinike, to name a few. As I look at the position players, I see no outs. Every one of our starters is capable of hitting .300. Some, like Piatt and Hauswald, have a chance to be playing in the "Show" someday. Look for those two, as well as Lee, to have big years hitting. Hauswald will probably need a little time to get his timing down, but when we need him, he will be there. The first nine pitchers on our staff are all capable of pitching effectively in the SEC. Look for DuBose, Dilgard and Jackson to be in our SEC rotation, Wiese to be our closer, and Polk to do it all (reliever and starter). Then you have others such as Reinike, Wheeler, Ginter, Johnson and Donavan. What a staff! I bet we will be seeing a lot of major league scouts at Dudy Noble Field, or should I say Polk-DeMent Stadium, this year. To say I'm excited is the same as saying I love my Bulldogs. There's no doubt about either one. LET'S PLAY BALL!!!
02/21/97 - Here's a little info about Miss State signee Josh West:
Last year he had a 6-2 won-lost record, 98 Ks and a 2.65 ERA. He is consistently clocked in the high 80s and low 90s, according to his coach. When not pitching, West plays shortstop where he batted .418 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI.
02/20/97 - Weather permitting, Miss State will play Samford Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM. Samford last to Ala-Birmingham 11-9 Wednesday.
02/20/97 - Miss State's first two opponents both won Tuesday: Samford won 3-2 over Tennessee Tech and South Alabama won 11-3 over Jacksonville State.
02/19/97 - After a poor day of practice Monday, the Diamond Dawgs were hitting the ball all over Dudy Noble Tuesday. Not any homeruns, but a lot of guys had multiple hits today. Included in that number were Piatt, Freeman, Peeples and Scioneaux. Other hits of note: Chapman had a double; Brooks Bryan a triple. Here are a few stats for some of the pitchers: Walters had 2 Ks in 3 innings; Polk had 1 K in the 1 inning that my source saw him pitch; Jackson had 2 Ks and 1 BB in 2 innings. Bascially, it was a hitters day.
02/19/97 - South Alabama, who Miss State plays Saturday and Sunday, beat Minnesota 11-9 Monday. Their record is now 4-4.
02/17/97 - Look for Keith Dilgard to start against Samford Friday. So far, he is doing very well in practice. Sunday, he threw 4 scoreless inning in an intrasquad game. According to my source, he could have thrown a couple of more. Here's hoping Dilgard and DuBose are going to be the best one-two pitching combination in the SEC this year.
02/17/97 - I need help from any of you that has access to the following info. I would like to post weekly stats on each of our baseball signees. Click here for the baseball signees names. If any of you have access to this info, email me. We'll arrange for you to email it to me at a certain time each week and I'll post it. As always, your name will not be posted to my page. Thanks for any help you can give me.
02/16/97 - Here is the 1997 SEC and Miss State baseball preview by The Clarion-Ledger and The Commercial Dispatch.
02/13/97 - Here's an update on Preston Hayes, the 1B from just outside of New Orleans. His sophomore year he hit .552, with 9 homers. His junior year he hit .330, with 3 homers. He has talked to both Skip Bertman and Ron Polk, but he has not committed to either one yet. He also runs a 4.7 40 yard dash and a 6.8 60 yard dash.
02/10/97 - I received an email yesterday asking if I had heard about a lefthanded firstbaseman, Preston Hayes, from New Orleans that Miss State and LSU is recruiting. Anybody know anything about this guy? He is supposed to be an outstanding player.
02/10/97 - Just found out that Brad Freeman will play SS and Adam Piatt will play 3B. This is according to someone that heard Pat McMahon speak about a month ago. My mistake.
02/10/97 - Look for Jeremy Jackson and Brian Wiese to battle for the number three spot in the SEC pitching rotation.
02/10/97 - You can also expect Miss State to stick with this set infield: 1B - Richard Lee, 2B - Rob Hauswald, SS - Brad Freeman, 3B - Adam Piatt. There will no moving them around as in past years.
02/09/97 - MISSISSIPPI STATE RECEIVES A $1,000,000 GIFT TO BENEFIT BASEBALL AND BAND:
From The Commercial Dispatch - Sports Writer Danny P. Smith
Band and baseball have received a boost at Mississippi State University.
Bonnie DeMent of Indianola has donated $1 million to the institution, going toward benefitting the baseball program and helping with the construction of a new band practice facitlity.
"We're excited about it," Mississippi State athletic director Larry Templeton said. "It is a gift that will give us an opportunity to complete paying off the debt for the stadium."
DeMent is making the contribution in memory of her late husband Gordon DeMent, who died in May 1996.
Gordon DeMent attended Mississippi State from 1920-22 and was a devoted follower of the baseball program. He was the retired owner of DeMent Auction Company Co.
Half of the gift has been designated for a proposed $1 million band hall. The rest of the funding will come from a fund-raising campaign.
With the contribution to the baseball program, Dudy Noble Field will be renamed in honor of DeMent and Mississippi State head coach Ron Rolk. It will be known in the future as Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium.
"It's fitting to have his name (Polk's) associated with the stadium," Templeton said.
This will be Polk's 22nd season at the head of the MSU baseball program and he needs just four victories to reach the 1,000-win mark for his career. Polk will be the 16th college baseball coach to achieve that milestone.
In becoming the Southeastern Conference's all-time winningest coach, Polk has guided five teams to the College World Series and 16 squads to NCAA Regional Tournaments.
Polk appreciates the contribution from DeMent.
"We're real happy about it," he said. "There's going to be some type of ceremony during the season, but Larry's office is in charge of handling that.
"We're going to pay off some debts and there are some other long range plans, but we haven't started going over those yet."
02/09/97 - According to a reliable source, Miss State has 10 pitchers that can max out at 88 mph or better on the JUGS gun.
02/04/97 - A source of mine told me that Sam Potts, the catcher from Kosciusko that I asked about on 2/1/97 is talking to Miss State, Delta State, Ole Miss and Meridian CC. His average time throwing from home to second base is 1.92 seconds. Sounds like this guy is someone to watch out for.
02/02/97 - Rob Hauswald had his vision checked (20/20) and it appears he is ready to get back into the groove. The accident does not appear to have hurt his vision at all. Let's play ball!
02/01/97 - I just received an email from a Blake Holly source that I consider impeccable. He said Blake loves Miss State and he wants to play baseball at Miss State, but he also wants a chance to play baskeball there as well. His ultimate dream, like Whit Hughes' was, is to play both sports for the school he has loved all of his life. Not only would Blake give a 100% effort, Miss State would be getting one of the finest young men my source knows. He said Blake was voted Mr. Tishomingo County High School by his peers, as well as being Salutatorian of his class. He has also earned honors as a baseball player; being selected to the All-District 1-4A baseball team as well as the Miss. Daily Journal's All Area Baseball Team following his junior year. If any of you have connections with anyone in the baseball or basketball office, tell them about Blake. He is one of our own, who dearly wants to play for Miss State. As most of you probalby already know, Blake is the younger brother of former Bulldog, Chuck Holly.
02/01/97 - If any of you know about a catcher from Kosciusko named Sam Potts, email me. I need to know which teams, if any, are recruiting him. Someone has contacted me, saying that Sam is a superb athlete with a great release.