By By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
April 5, 2001
The Southern Miss Golden Eagle baseball team will enjoy a backdrop of campus activities this weekend, just as their in-state counterparts Mississippi State and Ole Miss did the previous two weekends.
Corky Palmer's Golden Eagle squad will open a three-game Conference USA slate at Pete Taylor Park against the Saint Louis Bilikens.
Amidst all of that, however, is USM's spring football game. The 2001 Black and Gold game will take place at M.M. Roberts Stadium Saturday at 1 p.m.
The game will give USM fans a chance to get a good look at this coming season's Eagles' squad that will open up the slate with a game against Oklahoma State at home on Sept. 1.
Other activities going on this weekend include the Lady Eagle softball team facing off against Charlotte with a doubleheader that begins at 11 a.m. The annual M-Club Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will also be held Friday night at the Lake Terrace Country Club.
There is also a Former Players Golf Scramble at Shadow Ridge Golf Course. For more information about the scramble, please call (601 288-5299).
The Spring Game won't be a wrap-up of the Golden Eagle workouts. The NCAA-allowed number of 15 practices will give Bower's bunch four more sessions next week.
Contact the USM ticket office for details to all of these events.
Palmer's club will play its first game against the Bilikens Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The remaining two games will be played at 4 p.m., Saturday and at 1 p.m., Sunday.
MSU preps for Tennessee: This weekend the Bulldogs (16-11, 7-5 in Southeastern Conference) will try to shake off a 4-2 loss to Alabama-Birmingham and build on some of the success they enjoyed against Arkansas.
Senior Josh West kept up his assault on the stat chart with three hits. West is currently hitting the ball at a .367 clip, while first baseman Matthew Brinson leads the Diamond Dogs with a .369 average.
Another big bat for Pat McMahon's team is catcher Jason Burkley. His output stands at .354. Burkley also leads the way in driving runs in with 19 RBIs going into the UAB game.
Rain forced the cancellation Wednesday night's game Troy State baseball game.
It was the eighth rainout this year for State, which will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend for a three-game series against Tennessee (27-6, 8-4 SEC).
Former Meridian Community College standout Jeff Hunter leads the Bulldog pitching staff with a 0.75 ERA. Another former Eagle, Josh Wooten carries a 2.03 ERA. The submarine sidearmer has 11 strikeouts in 11 innings.
Rebs head to Arkansas: This week the Arkansas Razorbacks will host the other SEC squad from Mississippi when the Rebels go to Fayetteville.
Ole Miss is coming off a a series in which the Rebels took two out of three from Georgia and coach Ron Polk. The Rebs put away the Bulldogs 3-2 to take it on a clutch double by Matt Mossberg..
Ole Miss currently sits at 23-8-1, 9-3 in SEC play). Like State, the Rebs were also rained out earlier this week, having missed out in the scheduled game against Memphis on Tuesday. They were able to complete the contest last night, with the Rebs prevailing 5-1.
After the three-game set against the Hogs (17-17, 3-9), the Rebs will travel south next Wednesday to take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a single game that begins at 6:30 p.m.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.