MSU News & Notes | Thursday, April 18, 2013

It's almost Friday! And Super Bulldog Weekend 2013 is officially upon us. Let's get things kicked off with an edition of MSU News & Notes for this Thursday, April 18, 2013:

• It goes without saying that the biggest news in MSU sports right now is Super Bulldog Weekend 2013. The weekend gets kicked off tonight with a 6:30 first pitch at Dudy Noble Field against Auburn on ESPNU. I'm not a huge fan of the Thu-Fri-Sat schedule on SBW, but it is what it is. I'll at least try to catch Saturday's game. Anyways, there's a TON of stuff going on this weekend on campus and just off of it, so make sure if you're in town to take full advantage of all of it. In case you haven't seen the full schedule, check it out below, and get more details at HailState.com:

Thursday, April 18
All Day (second round matches at 8, 11, 2 and 5): Women's Tennis, SEC Championship (A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)
6:30 p.m.: Baseball vs. Auburn (Dudy Noble Field/Polk-DeMent Stadium)

Friday, April 19
All Day (quarterfinal matches at 8, 11, 2 and 5): Women's Tennis, SEC Championship (A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)
8:00 a.m.: Pig Cooking Begins (behind McArthur Hall)
4:00 p.m.: Pig Cooking - Farm Bureau Sampling of the Grill (McArthur Hall - at corner of Barr & Collegeview)
6:30 p.m.: Baseball vs. Auburn (Dudy Noble Field/Polk-DeMent Stadium)

Saturday, April 20
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.: Cotton District Arts Festival (featuring Old Cotton Mill 5K Run at 8 a.m. and 1-Mile Family Fun Run at 10 a.m.)
9:00 a.m. - Noon: Pig Cooking Judging (behind McArthur Hall)
10:00 a.m.: Women's Tennis, SEC Championship, Semifinal #1 (A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Mississippi State Fan Fair (The Junction)
11:00 a.m.: Volleyball Alumni Match (Newell Grissom Building)
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.: Open House (Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex)
11:30 a.m.: Soccer vs. Southern Miss (Exh.) (Mississippi State Soccer Field)
1:00 p.m.: Maroon/White Spring Football Game (Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field)
2:00 p.m.: Women's Tennis, SEC Championship, Semifinal #2 (A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)
4:00 p.m.: Baseball vs. Auburn (Dudy Noble Field/Polk-DeMent Stadium)

Sunday, April 21
1:00 p.m.: Women's Tennis, SEC Championship, Final (A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre)

• Oh also, it looks like Boobie Dixon will be in town this weekend too. Prepare yourselves, Starkville.
• I literally laughed at this for about 10 minutes last night. Hilarious.
• Do you have an iPad or an iPhone? Of course you do. The majority of us have at least one of those devices, unless we're still rocking a flip phone (I see you, Andrew Luck). Anyways, if you love MSU football and have one of said devices, make sure you download the new wallpapers, twitter header photos, and more, released by MSU today. These are some great photos, and I'm not just saying that because my bud Blake McCollum shot the photos. Go forth, and download.
• Sure, there's still a lot of baseball left to play before postseason play starts for MSU, but at this juncture, State is projected to host a regional, according to Rivals' SEBaseball.com. Can State finish strong to keep that honor a possibility? State finishes with Auburn, Ole Miss, Alabama, Vandy, and South Carolina (not in that order).
• Congrats to women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer and new signee Jazmine Spears, who signed with State today. Spears averaged 31 points and 16 rebounds at New Albany, and was named Player of the Year by the Daily Journal.
• Coach Mullen hopped on the Jim Rome radio show on Wednesday. You can catch his appearance here.
• As if you weren't already jonesing enough for some football, there's this new promotional video for the 2013 Texas Kickoff Classic, where State will kick off its 2013 season against Oklahoma State in Houston:

• This is just a beautiful moment. Last night at the Boston Bruins game, the man singing the national anthem stopped, aware of what was going on around him. Watch and listen as the crowd provides us with another moment to be proud to be an American:

• Hunter Renfroe: great hitter or GREATEST HITTER? He's making the decision difficult right now. Renfroe, after a couple of frustrating seasons, has fully blossomed this season, and is setting himself up for a first round draft selection come June. Make sure you check out these two great reads on Renfroe: one from Perfect Game ($), and one from our man Bob Carskadon. We will have more on Renfroe on the blog soon about where his season ranks among the best in MSU history.
• It's early in the recruiting season, but here's a look ($) from 24/7 at the prospects and signees who will be in attendance at Saturday's spring football game.
• Bad news out of the dugout in Starkville as MSU catcher Mitch Slauter has a broken bone in his hand, and will be out for around three weeks. Although Slauter is a big loss, his backup, Nick Ammiratti, has been playing quite well lately, including a 3-for-5 game last weekend against Texas A&M where he hit a grand slam. Slauter should be back in time for the SEC tournament and any hopeful postseason play, and that's when you really need two catchers anyways.

That's it for today's news and notes. If I missed anything important, which I probably did, make sure you share it with us in the comments below. Thanks to all for reading, and hope you all have a great Super Bulldog Weekend if you're getting to go up.

Hail State.

And you bonus video for the day [makes nerdy squeeeeeeee sound]: