For Whom the Cowbell Tolls - All Posts

Renfroe Named Recipient of 2013 C Spire Ferriss Trophy

2013-05-20T22:16:39Z

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi State junior outfielder Hunter Renfroe was named the 2013 recipient of the C Spire Ferriss Trophy on Monday afternoon at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

“It’s the greatest honor of my baseball career,” said Renfroe afterwards. “It was an honor to be on the platform with these other talented players and such a thrill to win an award named after Coach Ferriss.”

A .293 career hitter, Renfroe sports a league-best .691 slugging percentage and also ranks among the SEC leaders in batting average (.362), on-base percentage (.459), RBI (51), hits (68), runs scored (48) and total bases (130).

The Cellular South Ferriss Trophy is presented annually to the top collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi and is named for "Boo" Ferriss, former Delta State head coach and member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, Delta State Hall of Fame and Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

The five finalists for this year's award were Renfroe, Stuart Turner (Ole Miss), Bobby Wahl (Ole Miss), Andrew Pierce (Southern Miss), and Josh Branstetter (Delta State).

For Renfroe and his Mississippi State teammates the road to the Omaha for the College World Series will begin Tuesday night in Hoover, AL as they take on Missouri in the first round of the 37th annual SEC Baseball Tournament.

MBD's Model for a Better SEC Tournament

2013-05-20T17:19:31Z

Have you seen this year's SEC Tournament bracket? It's nuts.

Day one is single elimination.

Days 2-4 are double elimination.

Days 5 & 6 are single elimination.

12 out of the 14 SEC teams made the cut. That's 86%. I bet you feel special Missouri and Kentucky, getting in with a 10-20 and 11-19 record respectively. Actually, not much respect for those records. Why are we inviting pretty much everyone to Hoover these days? What happened to the days of 8 out of 12 teams in? Back in 2011 LSU and Ole Miss couldn't even get in with a 13-17 record....it was at least somewhat of an accomplishment to make it to the Met.

But, here we have 12 teams. By Wednesday they will be cut to 8. If Mississippi State can get past Mizzou on Tuesday night we'll go from a possible one and done to guaranteed at least 3 games. I just don't like it.

I don't want to get in a scenario where we (or any SEC team) may play six straight days like State did in 2012.
What has Mizzou or UK done to earn the right to play against MSU and Ole Miss? MSU is 6 games ahead of Mizzou (with a much tougher schedule) and OM is 4 games ahead of UK (with a tougher schedule).
Why don't we at least give these teams like MSU, OM, Bama, etc. a chance to play at least two games to sharpen their skills before heading off to their Regional?
Playing on Tuesday gives your #1 guy four days of rest which he is not used to or you can use a mid-week guy. Why are we playing a single-elimination game under these circumstances.
I'm a stick in the mud.

I don't want to go back to the old way of having an eight-team double elimination tournament over five days. I like that there's only 8 teams, but I don't like the possibility six games in five days as Vanderbilt did in 2007.

Here's what I'd like to do: copy the ACC's pool play conference tournament.

Here's what it would look like this year...

Day 1

1 Vanderbilt vs. 8 Florida

4 South Carolina vs. 5 MSU

2 LSU vs. 7 Alabama

3 Arkansas vs. 6 Ole Miss

Day 2

1 Vanderbilt vs. 5 MSU

4 South Carolina vs. 8 Florida

2 LSU vs. 6 Ole Miss

3 Arkansas vs. 7 Alabama

Day 3

1 Vanderbilt vs. 4 South Carolina

5 MSU vs. 8 Florida

2 LSU vs. 3 Arkansas

6 Ole Miss vs. 7 Alabama

As you can see, this is a round robin between two 4-team pods. You take the team with the best record and advance them to a championship game vs. the team with the best record from the other pod and play a do or die final game. That's it. If there's a tie use head-to-head first, then the higher seed advances if that doesn't work. Gripes? Maybe, but this tourney is relatively meaningless.

The advantages to this are two-fold. One - you only accept the top 8 teams, the really good ones. It's an accomplishment to make it. Two - no team can play more than four games, and you will at least play three which is the equivalent to the usual weekend series plus you make the trip to Hoover worth your while playing more than just one or two.

What do y'all think?

Poll

Which SEC Tourney format do you like the best?

This Week in MSU Baseball (SEC Tournament Edition)

2013-05-19T21:38:40Z

Last Saturday night there was weeping and gnashing of teeth over the Bulldogs collapse against arch rival Ole Miss. The offense didn't show up in game one and the defense and Kendall Graveman had uncharacteristic mistakes in game two as the Bulldogs lost the series all in six hours or so without even facing the Rebels' ace, Bobby Wahl.

That is when I said something big was about to happen. I was as upset as every other State fan out there but I knew that this was not going to sit well with the players and especially with John Cohen. Through the first five innings Sunday I was ready to change my mind. Then it clicked. The Bulldogs stormed back and took game three of the series putting most of the Bulldog fanbase back at ease. They then knew that winning the series against South Carolina would almost secure a regional in Starkville for the first time in 10 years.

Thursday night the Bulldogs came out of the gate sluggish and trailed 4-1 in the ball game going to the night. It was about to be a terrible start to the weekend. Wes Rea sent a bomb into the left field lounge to cut it to two but it still felt almost imminent that State was done. Tyler Webb, the SEC's leader in saves, was coming out of the bullpen. It's over. 0% chance. He promptly gave up a hit off his third baseman's glove to C.T. Bradford. Demarcus Henderson laid down the most absolutely perfect bunt I have ever laid eyes on and beat the ball down the first base line. Eventually State would take the 5-4 lead into the ninth and Johnny Holder saved the ball game. It would give State the upper hand going into the final two days.

State squandered a lead in game two Friday and an extra-innings two-run blast off of Daryl Norris' first pitch would do them end forcing a rubber game for MSU's hosting chances and the five seed in the tourney. State blew it open in the latter part of the game and, in most Bulldog fan's mind, locked up a hosting spot.

It was MSU's 40th win of the year, something that has not been done in a regular season since the Bulldogs won 42 in 1997. It was the 19th 40-win season in school history and second-straight for John Cohen. What MSU did at home was even more remarkable, however. State finished the year 30-7, only the fourth 30-win home season ever and first since 1989 when they went 31-4.

I will have the top 25 for the Bulldogs tomorrow when they are released.

Publication	This Week	Last Week
Baseball America	16	24
Collegiate Baseball	16	24
USA Today	13	16
Perfect Game	13	21
NCBWA	13	17

Now to stats. Hunter Renfroe is in a serious slump. Good news for State, the rest of the lineup is starting to find their swing. Something tells me this won't take long before he's right back to normal.

Individual Offense

Batting Average: 6th - Hunter Renfroe (.362); 14th- Adam Frazier (.338)

Hits: 4th - Frazier (79); T-10th- Renfroe (68); 12th- C.T. Bradford (67)

Slugging %: 1st - Renfroe (.691)

On Base %: 4th- Renfroe (.459); 6th- Alex Detz (.451); 13th- Brett Pirtle- (.426)

Runs Scored: T-4th--Renfroe (48)

RBI: 4th - Renfore (51)

Doubles: T-3rd Frazier (15); T-1`th- Renfroe (13)

Triples: T-2nd - Frazier (6)

Home Runs: 1st - Renfroe (15)

Total Bases: 3rd- Renfroe (130); 9th- Frazier (106)

Walks: 2nd - Alex Detz (46); T-8th- Renfroe (33)

Hit by Pitch: T-3rd-Brett Pirtle (17)

At Bats: 2nd- Frazier (234); 11th-Bradford (215)

Team Batting

Batting Average: 3rd (.295)

Hits: 3rd (555)

Slugging %: 4th (.397)

On Base %: 3rd (.391)

Runs Scored: 3rd (342)

RBI: 3rd (304)

Doubles: T-5th (84)

Triples: T-5th (12)

Home Runs: 7th (28)

Total Bases: 4th (747)

At Bats: 4th (1882)

Walks: 2nd (248)

Hit by Pitch: 4th (66)

Stolen Bases: T-6th (51)

Team/Individual Defense and Pitching

Earned Run Average: 4th (2.73) Leaders: Ross Mitchell- 1st- (1.28)

Opposing Batting Average: 3rd (.221) Leaders: R. Mitchell-7th (.212)

Innings Pitched: 5th (501.1) Leader: Graveman- 9th (87.0)

Strikeouts: 1st (457) Leader: Jonathan Holder- 12th (73)

Wins: 3rd (40) Leaders: R. Mitchell- 2nd (10)

Saves: T-6th (17) Leader: Jonathan Holder- 2nd- (15)

Appearances: Leader: Chad Girodo- T-3rd (29); Mitchell and Holder- T-12th (26)

(Least Amount) Hits: 3rd (400) Leaders: R. Mitchell- 5th- (54)

(Least Amount) Earned Runs: 4th (152) Leader: R. Mitchell- 1st- (10)

(Least Amount) Doubles: 2nd (53); Leader: R. Mitchell- T-13th (9)

(Least Amount) Triples: T-3rd (5) Leaders: R. Mitchell and Pollorena -T-1st (0)

(Least Amount) Home Runs: T-4th (19) Leaders: R. Mitchell and Pollorena- T-6th (2)

(Least Amount) Intentional Walks: 1st (3)

Fielding %: 6th (.975) Leader: Jacob Robson- T-1st (1.000)

Chances: 2nd (2231) Leader: Wes Rea- 15th (377)

Putouts: 5th (1504) Leader: Rea- 12th (356)

Assists: 1st (672) Leader: Frazier-1st (196); Pirtle- 13th (142)

Double Plays: 2nd (63) Leaders: Frazier-2nd (51); Pirtle-10th (38); Rea- 11th (36)

The Bulldogs now defend their title in the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. Last season they were pretty much out of regional hosting so winning wouldn't hurt. They ran the table and won five games in six days, one of the best runs in tournament history. This season is slightly different. I think State will be content with bowing out of the tournament. That's not to say they want to try and lose, but having a few extra days to rest for the regional will probably be best.

State will start the tournament Tuesday playing the final game of day one against the 12-seed Missouri. I believe winning the Tuesday night game seals up MSU's hosting chances. Going 2-2 in the tournament would be reasonable enough for most fans. We shall see how it all plays out.

Hosting a Regional: MSU CANNOT BE DENIED

2013-05-19T16:45:02Z

Hey NCAA, it's time for a Regional to come back to its home: Starkville, Mississippi. The evidence is undeniable. Here are some blind resumes to look at....

	Strength of Schedule	Winning %	vs. top 50	vs. 50+
Team A	74	.755	9-8	31-5
Team B	10	.764	16-9	26-4
Team C	31	.706	5-7	31-8
Team D	7	.696	13-14	26-3
Team E	68	.648	15-15	20-4
Team F	18	.709	11-12	24-4
Team G	87	.821	8-4	38-6
Team H	41	.722	7-5	32-10
Team I	39	.714	5-9	35-7
Team J	5	.714	19-14	21-2
Team K	30	.680	8-4	26-12
Team L	4	.648	10-14	25-5

That's 12 teams, and 8 of them will host. None of those teams are the locks to host, the probable national seeds: Vanderbilt, North Carolina, LSU, Florida State, Cal State Fullerton, Oregon, Virginia and Oregon State.

Team B's resume jumps out as the best on the board. They have the 2nd best winning percentage with a top 10 SOS and have 16 top 50 wins. They are a hosting no-brainer. This is North Carolina State.

The 2nd best resume isn't as clearly defined, but it's definitely between Team G and Team J. While Team G has a great record they don't have a great SOS, but still they beat the top teams when they played them. Team J has a very difficult schedule and a bunch of wins vs. the top 50 - the 3rd best winning percentage in the category on the board.

Team G is Louisville.

Team J is Mississippi State.

It's not even close. The Diamond Dawgs should host and will host. After a brutal SEC schedule that didn't feature any of the bottom three teams in the conference, they still ended up with a winning record and dominated the non-conference competition.

Saddle up the Dude, a baseball Regional will be coming home to Starkville.

Team A - Indiana
Team C - UCLA
Team D - Clemson
Team E - Arkansas
Team F - South Carolina
Team H - Kansas State
Team I - South Alabama
Team K - Arizona State
Team L - Virginia Tech

Mississippi State Bulldogs Fall to South Alabama Ending Softball Season

2013-05-19T15:26:39Z

After rallying to beat Mississippi Valley State in the first elimination game of the Mobile Regional in the 2013 NCAA Softball Championship, the Mississippi State Bulldogs could not turn the trick a second time, dropping a season-ending, 3-0 decision to the hosting South Alabama Jaguars Saturday at Jaguar Field in Mobile.

Farish Beard threw a gem for South Alabama, tossing a complete game, one-hitter and picking up 14 strikeouts.

"Farish is just incredible. 14 Ks--That is just an incredible job," said Mississippi State coach Vann Stuedeman. "I can't say enough great things about her. She is tough, and she just pitched extremely well tonight."

South Alabama, playing as the visiting team, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. After Haley Fagan and Meghan Collins drew walks to open the inning, Heidi Shape snagged a Alex Breeden popup in foul territory, but a subsequent throwing error allowed Stephanie Pilkington, who had come on to run for Fagan, to cross the plate.

South Alabama increased their lead in the third when Brittany Fowler drew a leadoff walk and scored on an RBI triple by Julie Moss to chase starter Stephanie Becker and give South Alabama a 2-0 lead. Moss scored when Kaitlyn Griffith slapped a single off of Jacey Punches to push the Jaguar lead to 3-0.

The Bulldogs looked to have an opportunity to rally in the bottom of the fifth when Logan Foulks slapped a one-out single and Sam Lenahan followed with a walk to bring the tying run to the plate, but Beard struck out the next two batters to end the threat.

Earlier in the day, the Bulldogs had four outs remaining in their season before Jessica Cooley smacked a solo shot over the center field wall to tie their contest with Mississippi Valley State at 1-1, and Briana Bell scored on a Shelby Fisher single to provide the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth on the way to a 2-1 victory.

The Delta Devilettes took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth when Kimberly Spivey drew a lead off walk and scored on an RBI single by Nicole Burr.

Alison Owen tossed a complete game for the Bulldogs, allowing only two hits and striking out 13 hitters.

Defeating Mississippi Valley State gave the Bulldogs their first NCAA tournament victory since an 8-3 win over Stony Brook in the Tempe Regional in 2008.

South Alabama and Florida State will meet in a rematch of the third game of the regional, a contest won by the Seminoles 2-1. That game is scheduled for 2:30 pm Sunday, and should the Jaguars win to force a deciding game, it is set for a 5 pm start. Should the Seminoles win, they will take the regional crown.

The winner of the Mobile Regional will face the winner of the Austin Regional where Texas needs one win against South Carolina to advance.

MSU Takes Series vs. South Carolina (and a lot more)

2013-05-19T12:56:02Z

Other than some questionable decisions made in Game 2, it was a great weekend at Dudy Noble Field as MSU took 2 of 3 from South Carolina. The Dawgs won Game 3 by a final score of 7-2.

Jacob Lindgren bounced back from some pretty rocky starts recently and got into the 5th inning before giving way to Ross Mitchell who went the rest of the way. Both pitchers gave up one run a piece.

DeMarcus Henderson had another big game in this series. The junior left fielder has come on strong of late. He went 3 for 4 in Game 1 and 3 for 3 in this one. Those did sandwich a 0 for 5 in Game 2 but still he has been hitting well - getting his average back up to .272 after it had sunk well below .250.

Some pretty cool things happened this weekend -

Common thought was MSU needed to take 2 of 3 vs. USC to secure themselves as a Regional host, we did that
MSU won 40 regular season games for the first time since 1997 (State made the College World Series that year)
Dudy Noble Field eclipsed the 5,000,000 mark in attendance
MSU broke it's all-time single-season attendance record
State clinched the 5 seed in the SEC Tourney ahead of Ole Miss and Alabama
2nd consecutive year with a winning SEC record, both of them 16-14

Here are the highlights of Game 3...

Second Guessing Cohen, Part III

2013-05-18T15:40:32Z

Like a freshman in the dorms, John Cohen makes some of his worst decisions on Friday nights.

Kendall Graveman had a pretty good start in Game 2 as held the Gamecocks back until the 5th inning when they scored a couple of runs to take a 2-0 lead. He got to the 7th inning before being lifted in favor of Ross Mitchell.

MSU scored their first run when C.T. Bradford struck out with the bases loaded but there was a wild pitch and Frazier scored. In the 7th inning State took a 3-2 lead on a 2-run single by Pirtle.

Hunter Renfroe had several chances to break the game open but he has slipped into a funk of late. In the last four games he is 1 for 16 and has left 24 men on base. Yikes.

Cohen's tendency to mismanage the bullpen reared its ugly head again, however, in the 8th inning. Like the Friday night game vs. LSU and the Friday night gave vs. Arkansas some very questionable decisions were made.

After only 0.2 innings, Cohen lifts one of our best pitchers in Ben Bracewell with one out and one on in favor of bringing C.T. Bradford in to face the lefty. Bradford gives up a single and his replacement in CF, Jacob Robson, misplays the ball allowing the lead runner to get to 3rd base.

Ok, if you just have to bring in a lefty to face a lefty then why wouldn't you bring in your left-handed RELIEF PITCHER (Girodo) who has pitched 29 innings this year with a 1.24 ERA instead of your left-handed CENTER FIELDER (Bradford) who has just 4.1 innings under his belt this year?

But what Cohen should have done is bring in your closer to CUT 'EM DOWN. You could say maybe Holder could only go one inning since he pitched in Game 1 but he enters the game after Bradford faces one batter.

Bringing Bradford in the game also cost MSU the DH for the rest of the game. And while Holder was able to get two strike outs to end the inning he did throw a wild pitch with the runner on third which scored the tying run.

In the 10th inning, Cohen brought Bradford back in to pitch and he got a couple of outs. At this point, C.T. wasn't a bad option because R. Mitchell, Bracewell, Holder and Girodo had all been used. Bradford walked the third hitter in the inning and he was lifted. I don't have a problem with pulling him here, but just go to the right guy.

With Trevor Fitts, Will Cox and Myles Gentry in the pen, Cohen goes to Daryl Norris. While Norris has been thought to be a potentially solid pitcher for MSU the last few years, he JUST MADE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE YEAR THREE DAYS AGO VS. ORAL ROBERTS. This is not the time to put him in the game. He can work on his pitching in the offseason and come back next year ready to contribute - not now. HOSTING A REGIONAL IS ON THE LINE. WE ARE FACING THE BEST COLLEGE BASEBALL PROGRAM IN THE COUNTRY. WHY IS DARYL NORRIS PITCHING?

Norris promptly groves one on his first pitch and it is deposited into the Left Field Lounge. 5-3 South Carolina.

Game 3 is on Saturday afternoon. Need to win.

State takes 5-4 win from South Carolina in dramatic fashion Thursday night

2013-05-17T13:27:13Z

After five innings of play Thursday night at Dudy Noble, it looked like State was headed for another disappointing series opening loss, and one that would severely hamper any remaining hopes of hosting a regional in Starkville. Luis Pollorena was not on his best game, State left countless runners on base, and things just seemed to be headed for another disappointing L for one of the most talented MSU teams in recent history.

And then something happened, something that MSU fans probably weren't expecting. With just six outs left between them and a loss, State stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 8th inning and mounted a remarkable four-run comeback, which got kicked off with a Wes Rea BOMB to left field. C.T. Bradford and Demarcus Henderson would follow that with singles, and then trusty Nick Ammirati added yet another single, scoring Bradford to make it a 4-3 game. Adam Frazier then added yet another single of his own, scoring another run and knotting the game up at 4 a piece. After the runners moved up on a wild pitch, South Carolina then intentionally walked Hunter Renfroe, bringing Brett Pirtle to the plate. Gamecock closer Tyler Webb, who has been reliable throughout the season, then walked Pirtle, giving the Bulldogs the lead at 5-4, a lead that would last for good.

More: Full Stats HailState.com Game Recap

After a leadoff walk to start the 9th inning, God's gonna cut you down began playing over the loudspeaker, and it was time for closer Jonathan Holder to come on and close out the game. Holder did what Holder always does, as he got out of the jam, earning his school record 15th save of the season.

Last night was also a big night for us MSU baseball fans, as Dudy Noble Field received its 5,000,000th fan since the school began keeping up with attendance in 1976. That's a pretty cool feat. Here's a look at who the 5,000,000th fan was (assuming the wife, because well [smacks husband with purse, tells not to be selfish]).

The win pushed MSU to 39-15 (15-13 SEC) on the season, while South Carolina fell to 38-15 (16-11 SEC) on the season. With this being the final weekend of the regular season, each win is enormous, so the comeback last night was a huge boost for State and their postseason hopes.

It's safe to say that the team was quite excited about it as well:

The Bulldogs and Gamecocks will lace them back up and do it all over again tonight in yet another greatly important game between the two teams. First pitch is set for 6:30, and remember, the first 5,000 fans will get this cool lapel pin commemorating 5,000,000 fans at Dudy Noble Field.