2012 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team


The 2012 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represented Mississippi State University in the NCAA Division I baseball season of 2012. The team was coached by John Cohen, in his 13th year as a collegiate head coach, and his 4th at Mississippi State.

2012 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWest
Record40–24 (16–14 SEC)
Head coach
Hitting coachLane Burroughs (4th season)
Pitching coachButch Thompson (4th season)
Home stadiumDudy Noble Field
Seasons
← 2011
2013 →
2012 Southeastern Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Eastern
No. 2 South Carolina  x‍‍‍y 18 11   .621 49 20   .710
No. 6 Florida  ‍‍‍y 18 12   .600 47 20   .701
No. 19 Kentucky  ‍‍‍y 18 12   .600 45 18   .714
No. 25 Vanderbilt  ‍‍‍y 16 14   .533 35 28   .556
Georgia  ‍‍‍ 14 15   .483 31 26   .544
Tennessee  ‍‍‍ 8 22   .267 24 31   .436
Western
No. 11 LSU  x‍‍y 19 11   .633 47 18   .723
No. 3 Arkansas  ‍‍‍y 16 14   .533 46 22   .676
Mississippi State  ‍‍y 16 14   .533 40 24   .625
Ole Miss  ‍‍‍y 14 16   .467 37 26   .587
Auburn  ‍‍‍ 13 17   .433 31 28   .525
Alabama  ‍‍‍ 9 21   .300 21 34   .382
x – Division champion
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
As of June 26, 2012[1]
Rankings from Coaches' Poll

Mississippi State wins the 2012 SEC Tournament championship winning a school record 5 games against 1 loss,[2] is then eliminated in the NCAA tournament in the Tallahassee Regional, and finishes ranked in some polls.

Pre-season

edit

The 2012 Mississippi State Bulldogs Baseball team was looking to continue rebuilding after the 2011 MSU Baseball team had a winning record and returned to the NCAA tournament, both for the first time in 4 years. The 2012 MSU baseball team welcomes a recruiting class ranked 14th by Baseball America, which is the third consecutive top 20 ranked recruiting class.[3]

The SEC coaches pick this team to finish 5th in the West division.[4] The team is not ranked in the top 25 in any of the four major preseason polls. The team went on to finish tied for 2nd in the SEC West, to win the SEC Tournament and at one point is ranked as high as 14th.

Senior RHP Caleb Reed is selected 1st team NCBWA Preseason All-American.[5] Reed is also selected 1st team SEC Preseason All-Conference by College Sports Madness, while sophomore OF C.T. Bradford, and sophomore SS Adam Frazier are selected 2nd team.[6]

Regular season

edit

Going 4–0 to open the season, they were ranked 18th on February 27, 2012, by Perfect Game.[7] They will end the regular season ranked as high as 21st (See Ranking Movements below).

Mississippi State entered the final series of the regular season at 31–21, 13–14 in conference play. In that final series, they swept, at that time, #2 Kentucky, at home, in Starkville, to finish the regular season 34–21, 16–14.[8] For the regular season, they won all five conference series at home, including a sweep of Tennessee in addition to Kentucky, and lost all five series on the road, including being swept by South Carolina.

Games Schedule, results, and box scores can be found at the reference.[9]

SEC Tournament

edit

In the SEC tournament, with all rankings according to the final Coaches' Poll, Mississippi State beat #3 Arkansas then #11 LSU, before losing to #19 Kentucky; they then beat #11 LSU, again, #19 Kentucky, winning the rematch, and #25 Vanderbilt to win the SEC Tournament championship.[10] SS Adam Frazier is the Tournament MVP. Frazier, OF Demarcus Henderson, and P Jonathan Holder make the All-Tournament team.[11] Frazier, in 6 games, hits 0.522 with one double, has an OBP of 0.560, scores 4 runs, has 3 rbi, and successfully hits a sacrifice bunt.[12] Holder, in 4 games, has 3 saves and 1 win, giving up 0 runs.[13]

In the championship game Mississippi State beats Vanderbilt, shutting them out 3–0. Pitchers Brandon Woodruff, Ross Mitchell, Caleb Reed, and Chris Stratton combine for the shutout.

After, going 5–1 in, and winning the SEC Tournament, at 39–22 overall, they are ranked as high as 14th by Baseball America.[14]

NCAA tournament

edit

In the NCAA tournament, Mississippi State is regionally seeded 2nd, in the Tallahassee Regional. They lose in an upset to 3rd seed Samford, then win to eliminate 4th seed UAB, and then lose to be eliminated by 3rd seed Samford. In the losing effort, four Mississippi State players make the 11 man, Regional All-Tournament team, Matthew Britton (FR 2B), Adam Frazier (SO SS), Wes Rea (FR 1B), and Mitch Slauter (JR C).[15]

After the post season ends, going 1–2 in the NCAA tournament, they are ranked as high as 22nd by Baseball America.[16]

Season Awards

edit

RHP Kendall Graveman is the first Mississippi State player to be named to this team, since the conference started this all-defensive team in 2008.[17] He only committed 1 error in 89.2 innings pitched.[18]

  • SEC Coaches' All-Defensive Team.[19]

RHP Jonathan Holder saw limited action as a true freshman, in 2012. He did lose the game, in relief, to eliminate Mississippi State from the NCAA tournament. But at one point, he set a school record scoreless streak at 27.1 innings, which was his entire start to the season. Overall, he had an ERA of 0.32, 30 strikeouts, and 5 base-on-balls, in 28.1 innings. The only runs given up were 2 runs, 1 earned, in 1.0 inning pitched, in the NCAA Regional elimination game. Overall, he went 2–1 with 9 saves. In the last 11 games, in which he appeared, he had 8 saves and went 1–1.[20][21]

  • SEC Coaches' All-Freshman Team.[22]
  • NCBWA Freshman All-American Team.[23]
  • Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.[24]
  • Baseball America's Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team.[25]
  • Perfect Game Freshman All-American.[26]

RHP Chris Stratton went 11–2 with a 2.38 ERA with 127 strikeouts and 25 base-on-balls in 109.2 innings.[27] He was the first Consensus All-American for Mississippi State since Will Clark in 1985.[28]

MLB Draft

edit
Player Position Round Overall MLB Team
Chris Stratton RHP 1 20 San Francisco Giants
Nick Routt LHP 16 502 Cincinnati Reds
Kendall Graveman RHP 36 1097 Miami Marlins

[31] NOTE: Kendall Graveman will not sign, finishes his senior year at Mississippi State and then goes in the 8th round the next year.[32]

Ranking movements

edit
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
Week
PollPre1234567891011121314151617Final
Coaches'*2522
Baseball America2321252414222222
Collegiate Baseball^29302117242424
NCBWA342621283030

^ Collegiate Baseball ranked 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranked 30 teams weekly during the season.
NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season.
* A new poll was not released for this week, so for comparison purposes, the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.


Notes: The Coaches' and Baseball America had no rankings for week 16 and 17, June 5 and June 11; the Final rank is used.

Roster and Stats

edit

Coaches

edit

[33]

Name Title First Season at MSU Alma Mater
John Cohen Head coach 2009 Mississippi State University (1990)
Butch Thompson Associate Head Coach 2009 Birmingham Southern (1992)
Lane Burroughs Assistant coach 2009 Mississippi College (1995)

Players

edit
# Player Pos B T YR Hometown AVG% G AB R H HR RBI SLG% OB% SB-SA FLD%
2 Demarcus Henderson OF R R FR Waynesboro, MS .245 36 102 17 25 0 10 .275 .342 6–9 .919
3 Phillip Casey 2B/3B L R FR Sugar Land, TX .206 20 34 6 7 1 7 .324 .372 1–2 1.000
5 Daryl Norris 3B R R SO Fairhope, AL .273 45 139 17 38 1 25 .353 .380 2–3 .949
7 Taylor Stark OF R R SO Flowood, MS .245 17 49 8 12 0 4 .286 .339 2–3 .917
8 Sam Frost 2B L R JR Hoover, AL .214 56 140 18 30 0 20 .271 .319 8–11 .917
9 Tyler Fullerton OF R R FR Murfreesboro, TN .215 35 93 12 20 0 7 .269 .318 1–2 .955
10 C.T. Bradford OF L L SO Pace, FL .258 34 124 19 32 2 17 .339 .345 3–4 .968
12 Adam Frazier SS L R SO Bishop, GA .371 64 245 45 91 0 26 .445 .482 9–15 .957
13 Brayden Jones 3B R R FR Madison, MS .174 15 23 3 4 0 2 .217 .296 1–1 .813
15 Matthew Britton 2B L R FR Cullman, AL .177 52 124 17 22 0 9 .185 .288 3–3 .947
17 Nick Ammirati C S R JR Sparta, NJ .250 13 12 0 3 0 2 .250 .308 0–1 1.000
22 Luis Pollorena OF L L JR Laredo, TX .182 15 11 3 2 0 1 .182 .231 0–0 .929
24 Brandon Woodruff OF L R FR Wheeler, MS .105 13 19 0 2 0 1 .105 .227 0–1 1.000
29 Mitch Slauter C R R JR Olathe, KS .232 64 220 35 51 3 23 .327 .354 0–2 .990
32 Trey Porter 1B L R JR Hurley, MS .259 60 205 26 53 5 24 .376 .388 1–4 .933
34 Hunter Renfroe OF R R SO Crystal Springs, MS .252 61 230 24 58 4 25 .374 .328 7–8 .984
35 Wes Rea 1B R R FR Gulfport, MS .249 64 217 24 54 5 41 .392 .326 0–2 .991
42 Brent Brownlee OF R R SR Oxford, MS .204 41 98 12 20 0 11 .235 .304 1–1 .980
49 Kendall Graveman PR R R JR Alexander City, AL .000 1 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 0–0 .972
99. ² Totals --------- .251 64 2085 287 524 21 255 .333 .358 45–72 .969
99. ²² Opponents --------- .240 64 2156 219 517 17 192 .313 .314 52–74 .975

NOTE: The use of 99. and ² have no significance other than to maintain Totals and Opponents at the bottom when sorted ascending for those columns.

Pitchers

edit
# Player T Yr Hometown ERA W-L G-GS SV IP H BB SO FLD%
44 Andrew Busby R JR Gardendale, AL 0.00 0–0 2–0 0 1.0 1 0 1 1.000
14 Jonathan Holder R FR Gulfport, MS 0.32 2–1 24–0 9 28.1 17 5 30 1.000
4 Ben Bracewell R SO Chelsea, AL 0.93 0–0 9–3 0 19.1 13 10 19 .667
39 Tanner Gaines R FR Baldwyn, MS 1.08 1–0 6–1 0 8.1 5 2 8 .500
48 Ross Mitchell L FR Smyrna, TN 1.18 3–0 24–1 0 38.0 24 8 24 1.000
22 Luis Pollorena L JR Laredo, TX 1.85 4–0 16–4 0 34.0 24 6 24 .929
28 Chris Stratton R JR Tupelo, MS 2.38 11–2 17–12 1 109.2 84 25 127 .952
24 Brandon Woodruff R FR Wheeler, MS 2.38 1–2 12–6 0 34.0 25 17 37 1.000
37 Caleb Reed R SR Cleveland, MS 2.47 1–5 31–1 9 58.1 51 22 52 1.000
49 Kendall Graveman R JR Alexander City, AL 2.81 4–4 16–16 0 89.2 84 21 59 .972
21 Jacob Lindgren L FR Bay St. Louis, MS 3.18 2–2 14–2 1 28.1 31 7 24 1.000
31 Trevor Fitts R FR Helena, AL 3.29 3–0 8–0 0 13.2 17 3 14 1.000
51 Evan Mitchell R SO Marietta, GA 3.52 2–1 13–4 0 38.1 31 28 43 .900
7 Taylor Stark R SO Flowood, MS 3.68 1–0 8–0 1 7.1 11 5 5 .917
36 Nick Routt L JR Silver Spring, MD 3.80 3–5 18–7 0 45.0 58 15 39 .923
38 Will Cox R FR Amory, MS 4.64 2–1 7–6 0 21.1 22 3 22 .800
18 Chad Girodo L JR Hartselle, AL 5.87 0–1 11–0 0 7.2 13 1 6 1.000
10 C.T. Bradford L SO Pace, FL 10.12 0–0 1–1 0 2.2 6 3 2 .968
99. ² Totals ------ 2.58 40–24 64–64 21 585.0 517 181 536 .969
99. ²² Opponents ------ 3.82 24–40 64–64 14 568.1 524 261 443 .975

NOTE: The use of 99. and ² have no significance other than to maintain Totals and Opponents at the bottom when sorted ascending for those columns.

Players Not Played

edit

These players were on the roster, but did not appear in a game, and may have been redshirted or left the program.

# Player Pos B T YR Hometown
6 C.C. Watson P L L SO Heflin, AL
25 Nick Flair SS R R FR Belle Chasse, LA
33 Preston Brown P R R FR Germantown, TN

Schedule and results

edit
2013 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball game log
Regular season
Post-season
SEC tournament
Date Opponent Site/stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall record SECT Record
May 22 Arkansas Hoover Metropolitan StadiumHoover, AL 9–1 Woodruff (1–2) Stanek (6–4) Holder (7) 5,489 35–21 1–0
May 23 LSU Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL 3–2 Stratton (11–1) Broussard (4–1) Holder (8) 7,019 36–21 2–0
May 24 Kentucky Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL 1–5 Grundy (5–3) Graveman (4–4) Phillips (7) 6,798 36–22 2–1
May 25 LSU Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL 4–3 Holder (2–0) Goody (1–2) None 9,067[34] 37–22 3–1
May 26 Kentucky Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL 2–1 Routt (3–5) Littrell (8–2) Holder (9) 9,243[35] 38–22 4–1
May 27 Vanderbilt Hoover Metropolitan Stadium • Hoover, AL 3–0 R Mitchell (2–0) Beede (1–5) Stratton (1) 12,526 39–22 5–1
NCAA Tallahassee Regional
Date Opponent Site/stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall record NCAAT record
Jun 1 Samford Dick Howser StadiumTallahassee, FL 0–5 Basford (10–2) Stratton (11–2) None 3,154 39–23 0–1
June 2 UAB Dick Howser Stadium • Tallahassee, FL 8–1 R Mitchell (3–0) Nance (4–4) Reed (9) 3,154 40–23 1–1
June 3 Samford Dick Howser Stadium • Tallahassee, FL 2–3 Burns (4–1) Holder (2–1) Irby (10) 3,081 40–24 1–2
  1. ^ Suspended due to rain on Feb 18 and completed on Feb 19.
  2. ^ Game was cancelled due to rain and was not rescheduled.
  3. ^ Game was suspended due to rain and completed on May 8.
  4. ^ Makeup of Apr 3 game.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Baseball standings". Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  2. ^ Diamond Dogs Finish Incredible Run; Down Vandy For SEC Tourney Crown
  3. ^ 2012 Top 25 Recruiting Classes
  4. ^ "Reed Adds A Fourth Preseason Honor; Coaches Pick MSU Fifth In West". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  5. ^ NCBWA names 2012 Preseason All-America team
  6. ^ 2012 SEC Baseball Preseason All-Conference Teams
  7. ^ "Making significant moves". Perfect Game. February 27, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  8. ^ "Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll – May 21". College Baseball 360. May 22, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  9. ^ "2012 MISSISSIPPI STATE BASEBALL". Mississippi State University Athletics. 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  10. ^ USA Today/ESPN College Baseball Coaches’ Poll – June 26
  11. ^ Diamond Dogs Finish Incredible Run; Down Vandy For SEC Tourney Crown
  12. ^ "Frazier". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  13. ^ "Holder". Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  14. ^ College Top 25: May 28
  15. ^ Four Diamond Dogs Earn All-Tournament Team Honors
  16. ^ Final 2012 College Top 25
  17. ^ Nick Routt, Kendall Graveman Selected In MLB Draft
  18. ^ "Graveman". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  19. ^ Simply the best
  20. ^ Jonathan Holder Named To Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team
  21. ^ "Holder". Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  22. ^ Simply the best
  23. ^ 2012 NCBWA Freshmen All-American Team Released
  24. ^ "Holder Picks Up Another Freshman All-America Team Honor". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  25. ^ Freshmen All-Americans
  26. ^ "Holder Picks Up Another Freshman All-America Team Honor". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  27. ^ "Stratton". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  28. ^ Chris Stratton: MSU's First Consensus All-American Since 1985
  29. ^ Mississippi State's Chris Stratton wins Ferriss Trophy
  30. ^ Simply the best
  31. ^ Routt, Graveman and 2 Bulldog signees taken in final day of '12 MLB Draft
  32. ^ Three More Diamond Dogs Drafted In First 10 Rounds
  33. ^ "12-MSbbNOTES-RELEASE" (PDF). Mississippi State University Athletics. May 30, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  34. ^ Attendance last game same day
  35. ^ "Attendance last game same day". Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.