MSU baseball ranked fourth
The 2018 Mississippi State Baseball team earned the program's third-best finish in the final polls, ranking as high as fourth nationally following Thursday's conclusion of the NCAA College World Series.
Three national publications, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association gave MSU their No. 4 spot.
The 2013 CWS runner-up team swept the two spot in 2013, and the 1985 Bulldogs were ranked third by Collegiate Baseball.
Baseball America and USA Today each ranked MSU sixth, while the Bulldogs finished seventh in Perfect Game's poll.
For the third consecutive season, the Bulldogs finished in the top 15 of all of the respective polls.
The Diamond Dawgs' season ended with them being among the final four teams left in the College World Series. MSU beat Washington and North Carolina to open its campaign in Omaha, but were bested by eventual national champion Oregon State in two games.
Over the course of the season, State racked up 21 comefrom-behind wins, nine walk-off victories and a 10-3 record against top five opponents.
The Bulldogs were ranked as high as 12th nationally in the preseason polls. However, with a 10-10 record and 0-3 conference mark after an Southeastern Conference-opening weekend sweeping by Vanderbilt, MSU was out of every poll and looking to rebound.
Despite dropping its first three SEC series, State eventually did bounce back with a weekend victory against No. 3 Ole Miss in early April.
The Bulldogs rallied the rest of the season, going on to sweep No. 3 Arkansas two weekends later, and No. 1 Florida on the final weekend of regular season play to finish 15-15 in SEC play with nine wins against top five opposition, all but cementing their tournament résumé.
MSU started slow in NCAA tournament play, losing its first game of the Tallahassee Regional to three-seed Oklahoma. The Diamond Dawgs then won four-straight eliminations games to capture the regional title. State became the first program to win a regional after losing its opening game in consecutive seasons, as they had also done it in the Hattiesburg Regional in 2017.
A dramatic three-game super regional win against Vanderbilt punched State's ticket to Omaha, its first trip since 2013.
Bulldog second baseman Hunter Stovall was voted to the College World Series All-Tournament team following the championship series finale after batting .353 (6-for-17) in the four games with three RBI, a double and two runs scored.
Jerry Fremin Atiba Prater Erich Coleman William Hilbun
Players
Cooper Anthony Thomas Collier Preston Crouch Murphy Gordon Sims Gregory Cline Kemp Kylan Pulliam Knox Smith Reed Sparks Zaiden Spencer Will Thomas Landry Williamson
8-year-olds Head coach
Marcus Hendrix
Assistant coaches Players
George Bock Oscar Bock Aidan Brooks Dominique Burkhalter George Dunn Caleb Fratesi Grant Fremin Marcus Hendrix II Trenton Hochstetler Isaiah Kemp Hayden Sanders
9-year-olds Head coach
Brantley Johnson
Assistant coaches
Roger Baker Thomas Berkery Jack Riekhof
Players
Will Akers Quintin Baker Brantley Berkery Micah Buckner Alex Edelblute Nate Fratesi Brennan Frasier Andrew Jenkins Jack Johnson Joseph Portera Christian Riekhof Jace Yates
11-year-olds Head coach
Reggie Campbell Jr.
Assistant coaches Today
AUTO RACING 10:30 a.m.
NBCSN — NASCAR, Monster Energy Cup Series, Overton’s 400, practice, at Joliet, Ill.
11:30 a.m.
NBCSN — NASCAR, Xfinity Series, Overton’s 300, qualifying, at Joliet, Ill.
1 p.m.
NBCSN — NASCAR, Monster Energy Cup Series, Overton’s 400, final practice, at Joliet, Ill.
2:30 p.m.
NBCSN — NASCAR, Xfinity Series, Overton’s 300, at Joliet, Ill.
6 p.m.
NBCSN — NASCAR, Monster Energy Cup Series, Overton’s 400, qualifying, at Joliet, Ill.
BOXING 8 p.m.
ESPN — Gilberto Ramirez vs. Roamer Alexis Angulo, for Ramirez’s WBO super middleweight title, at Oklahoma City
COLLEGE BASEBALL 7 p.m.
ESPN2 — College Home Run Derby, at Omaha, Neb.
GOLF 6:30 a.m.
GOLF — European PGA Tour, HNA Open de France, third round, at Paris
Noon
GOLF — PGA Tour, Quicken Loans National, third round, at Potomac, Md.
2 p.m.
CBS — PGA Tour, Quicken Loans National, third round, at Potomac, Md. NBC — LPGA Tour/PGA of America, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, third round, at Kildeer, Ill.
3 p.m.
FS1 — USGA, U.S. Senior Open, third round, at Colorado Springs, Colo.
MLB BASEBALL 1 p.m.
MLB — Regional coverage, Minnesota at Chicago Cubs OR Detroit at Toronto (noon)
4 p.m.
MLB — Regional coverage, L.A. Angels at Baltimore (joined in progress) OR Cleveland at Oakland (3 p.m.)
6 p.m.
FOX — Regional coverage, Atlanta at St. Louis, Boston at N.Y. Yankees or Colorado at L.A. Dodgers
9 p.m.
MLB — Regional coverage, San Francisco at Arizona OR Kansas City at Seattle
MOTOR SPORTS 7 p.m.
NBCSN — AMA, Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Series, Southwick National, at Southwick, Mass. (same-day tape)
SOCCER 9 a.m.
FOX — FIFA World Cup, Second round, France vs. Argentina, at Kazan, Russia
1 p.m.
FOX — FIFA World Cup, Second round, Uruguay vs. Portugal, at Sochi, Russia
2:30 p.m.
LIFE - NWSL, North Carolina at Orlando
3:30 p.m.
FOX — MLS, Portland at Seattle
6 p.m.
ESPN — MLS, Orlando City at Atlanta United
Chicago 82, Indiana 64 (Vivians 3) Washington 82, Indiana 75 (Vivians 5) Los Angeles 87, Indiana 70 (Vivians 0) Washington 93, Indiana 84 (Vivians 6) Connecticut 86, Indiana 77 (Vivians 13) New York 87, Indiana 81 OT (Vivians 2) Dallas 89, Indiana 83 (Vivians 7) New York 78, Indiana 75 (Vivians 11) Las Vegas 101, Indiana 92 OT (Vivians 0) Atlanta 72, Indiana 67 (Vivians 13) Indiana 96, Atlanta 64 (Vivians 21) Los Angeles 74, Indiana 55 (Vivians 3) Seattle 72, Indiana 63 (Vivians 5) Connecticut 87, Indiana 78 (Vivians 14) Connecticut 101, Indiana 89 (Vivians 25) Phoenix 95, Indiana 77 (Vivians 10)
College Football
Mississippi State 2018 Preseason Honors
Elgton Jenkings, Sr., OL
Rimington Trophy Spring Watch List
Jeffery Simmons, Jr, DT
Athlon Sports Preseason All-American (second team)
Montez Sweat, Sr., DE
Athlon Sports Preseason All-American (third team)
Auto Racing
NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Schedule
Feb. 11 — x-Advance Auto Parts Clash (Brad Keselowski)
Feb. 15 — x-Can-Am Duel 1 (Ryan Blaney)
Feb. 15 — x-Can-Am Duel 2 (Chase Elliott)
Feb. 18 — Daytona 500 (Austin Dillon) Feb. 25 — Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (Kevin Harvick)
March 4 — Penzoil 400 (Kevin Harvick) March 11 — TicketGuardian 500 (Kevin Harvick)
March 18 — Auto Club 400 (Martin Truex Jr.)
March 26 — STP 500 (Clint Bowyer) April 8 — O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (Kyle Busch)
April 15 — Food City 500 (Kyle Busch) April 21 — Toyota Owners 400 (Kyle Busch)
April 29 — GEICO 500 (Joey Logano) May 6 — AAA 400 Drive for Autism (Kevin Harvick)
May 12 — KC Masterpiece 400 (Kevin Harvick)
May 19 — x-NASCAR All-Star Open (AJ Allmendinger)
May 19 — x-NASCAR All-Star Race (Kevin Harvick)
May 27 — Coca-Cola 600 (Kyle Busch) June 3 — Pocono 400 (Martin Truex Jr.) June 10 — FireKeepers Casino 400 (Clint Bowyer)
June 24 — Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Martin Truex Jr.)
July 1 — Overton’s 400, Joliet, Ill. July 7 — Coke Zero 400, Daytona Beach, Fla.
July 14 — Quaker State 400, Sparta, Ky.
July 22 — New Hampshire 301, Loudon
July 29 — Gander Outdoors 400, Long Pond, Pa.
Aug. 5 — GoBowling at The Glen, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
Aug. 12 — Consumers Energy 400, Brooklyn, Mich.
Aug. 18 — Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol, Tenn.
Sept. 2 — Bojangles’ Southern 500, Darlington, S.C.
Sept. 9 — Big Machine Brickyard 400, Indianapolis