The 2008 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represented Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University

The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...

 in the NCAA Division I baseball

College baseball

College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...

 season of 2008. The team was coached by Ron Polk

Ron Polk

Ronald Polk was a long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State and is considered the "Father of SEC Baseball". He is by far the winningest coach in school and SEC history in all sports. In 28 seasons as the coach, he has to date compiled a 1139-590-2 record. His career record stands at...

, in his 35th year as a collegiate head coach, and his 29th at Mississippi State. During mid-season, Coach Polk announced he would resign effective at the conclusion of the season. Following the conclusion of the season, former MSU standout and University of Kentucky Head Baseball coach John Cohen

John Cohen (baseball coach)

-External links:*...

 was announced by incoming AD Greg Bryne as the new Mississippi State Baseball Coach for 2009.

Pre-Season

The 2008 version of the Mississippi State Bulldogs Baseball team were looking to build on the success of the 2007 MSU Baseball Campaign

2007 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team

The 2007 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team placed 2nd in the SEC WEST and reached the 2007 College World Series.Ron Polk was the coach of the Bulldogs, in his 28th year.-Regular season:...

 after advancing to the College World Series. Based upon the achievements the year before, the recruiting class of 2008 was ranked 26th by Collegiate Baseball
The team was predicted to finish second in the SEC West
Mississippi State was ranked 24th in the preseason NCBWA poll, 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, and 19th in the Rivals.com preseason poll

Infielder Brandon Turner was named to the 2008 preseason Louisville Slugger TPX 2008 All-America second team and to the Golden Spikes Award

Golden Spikes Award

The Golden Spikes Award is awarded annually to the best amateur baseball player. It is awarded by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association. Though the award can be presented to any amateur player, it has always been given to a college baseball player.-Past...

 preseason watch list. Pitcher Aaron Weatherford was named to the preseason watch list for the NCWBA Stopper of the Year Award. Turner and Weatherford were both named to the preseason watch list for the 2008 Brooks Wallace Award.

Coaches

Name	Title	First Season at MSU	Alma Mater
Ron Polk Ron Polk Ronald Polk was a long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State and is considered the "Father of SEC Baseball". He is by far the winningest coach in school and SEC history in all sports. In 28 seasons as the coach, he has to date compiled a 1139-590-2 record. His career record stands at...	Head Coach	1976	Grand Canyon College (1965)
Russ McNickle	Assistant Coach	2002	University of South Alabama University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama is a public, doctoral-level university in Mobile, Alabama, USA. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. No other areas of the state were willing to support such a...  (1988)
Tommy Raffo	Assistant Coach	1998	Mississippi State University Mississippi State University The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...  (1990)
Wade Hedges	Volunteer Assistant Coach	2004	Florida Southern College Florida Southern College Florida Southern College is a private college located in Lakeland, Florida, United States. It was selected by U.S... (1996)

Players

#	Player	Pos	B	T	YR	Hometown	G	AB	H	AVG	HR	RBI	BB	SB	FLD%
2	Brandon Turner	2B	L	R	SO	Cleveland, TN	8	23	5	.217	1	4	0	0	1.000
3	Grant Hogue	OF	S	R	JR	Hattiesburg, MS	55	197	63	.320	0	13	21	25	.943
5	Russ Sneed	3B/SS	R	R	SO	Senatobia, MS	56	215	59	.274	2	26	31	5	.940
7	Ryan Powers	SS/2B	R	R	FR	Beacon, NY	40	92	22	.239	0	10	12	0	.944
8	Brooks Lewis	C	R	R	JR	Heidelberg, MS	23	17	4	.235	0	2	3	0	.980
11	Tyler Moore	1B	R	R	JR	Brandon, MS	56	204	61	.299	14	46	21	5	.982
13	Jet Butler	SS/2B	S	R	SO	Pensacola, FL	55	181	49	.271	1	24	16	0	.953
14	Ryan Duffy	C	L	R	SO	West Melbourne, FL	42	121	37	.306	7	25	4	0	.980
15	Mark Goforth	OF	L	R	JR	Covington, TN	46	101	31	.307	0	10	12	3	1.000
16	Will Coggin	2B	R	R	JR	Booneville, MS	8	4	0	.000	0	1	1	0	1.000
18	Jason Nappi	OF	R	R	FR	Birmingham, AL	53	197	54	.274	8	37	32	1	.897
19	Andy Rice	OF	L	L	SR	Amory, MS	31	61	16	.262	1	9	8	0	.972
20	Nick Hardy	OF	R	R	JR	Flora, MS.	49	76	20	.263	2	13	14	2	.950
23	Cade Hoggard	OF	R	R	SO	Oxford, MS	20	18	1	.056	0	0	5	0	1.000
25	Connor Powers	3B	R	R	SO	Naperville, IL	35	135	47	.348	11	38	18	2	.915
26	Scott DeLoach	C	R	R	JR	Madison, MS	5	1	1	1.000	0	0	0	0	1.000
27	Jeff Flagg	OF	R	R	JR	Jacksonville, FL	34	50	9	.180	1	6	9	0	1.000
29	Cody Freeman	C	R	R	FR	Collinsville, MS	38	116	36	.310	2	20	15	1	1.000
36	Johnny Allen	C	R	R	JR	Grenada, MS	22	47	12	.255	0	5	4	0	.979
38	Ryan Collins	OF	L	L	FR	Callaway, FL	43	119	41	.345	3	23	26	3	.983
45	Michael Busby	P/SS	R	R	FR	Vicksburg, MS	3	4	3	.750	0	1	0	0	1.000

Pitchers

#	Player	T	Yr	Hometown	G	GS	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	H	BB	SO	FLD%
4	Forrest Moore	L	FR	Baton Rouge, LA	19	4	45.1	1	2	0	8.14	52	39	46	.900
6	Justin Pigott	L	SR	Picayune, MS	9	9	44.2	2	3	0	5.04	51	16	44	1.000
9	Greg Houston	R	SO	Hoover, AL	14	2	25.2	0	1	0	7.36	44	16	18	1.000
10	Andy Wilson	L	SR	Columbus, GA	16	1	35.0	3	0	0	5.66	40	13	27	.778
12	Tyler Whitney	L	SO	Lakeland, TN	10	5	20.0	0	2	0	10.80	29	19	20	1.000
17	Chad Crosswhite	R	JR	Brandon, MS	19	11	53.1	3	5	0	9.96	82	27	36	.909
24	Jared Koon	R	JR	Tupelo, MS	2	0	1.2	0	0	0	10.80	2	1	0	1.000
30	John Lalor	R	SR	Germantown, TN	21	2	42.1	3	3	1	3.19	38	14	56	1.000
31	Ricky Bowen	R	SO	Jasper, AL	15	13	73.1	3	6	0	7.61	84	41	64	.889
32	Aaron Weatherford	R	JR	Crystal Springs, MS	18	0	31.2	3	1	7	0.85	10	10	62	1.000
34	Jesse Carver	L	SR	Starkville, MS	15	2	33.2	1	1	0	9.09	57	14	27	1.000
35	Jared Wesson	L	JR	Tupelo, MS	7	1	4.2	0	1	0	19.29	7	12	3	--
41	Lee Swindle	R	JR	Eupora, MS	11	4	35.1	2	3	0	6.37	52	14	13	1.000
44	Drew Hollinghead	R	SO	Leakesville, MS	6	2	10.0	1	1	0	6.30	8	9	5	1.000
45	Michael Busby	R	FR	Vicksburg, MS	19	0	37.0	1	4	0	5.84	39	29	30	1.000

These players are on the roster, but did not appear in a game and were redshirted.

#	Player	Pos	B	T	YR	Hometown
28	Shawn Marquardt	P	R	L	FR	Carmel, IN
33	Paxton Pace	P/2B	R	L	FR	Collinsville, MS
42	Brent Brownlee	OF	R	R	FR	Oxford, MS
48	Luke Adkins	OF	L	L	JR	Nettleton, MS
49	Sean Johnson	OF	R	R	JR	Senatobia, MS
50	Ryan Rubino	SS/2B	R	R	FR	Bradenton, FL
51	Bobby Triglia	3B/C	R	R	FR	Jacksonville, FL

Schedule and results

2008 Game Log