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.
Mississippi State wins the 2012 SEC Tournament championship winning a school record 5 games against 1 loss,Diamond Dogs Finish Incredible Run; Down Vandy For SEC Tourney Crown is then eliminated in the NCAA tournament in the Tallahassee Regional, and finishes ranked in some polls.
Pre-season 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.2012 Top 25 Recruiting Classes
The SEC coaches pick this team to finish 5th in the West division. 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.NCBWA names 2012 Preseason All-America team 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.2012 SEC Baseball Preseason All-Conference Teams
Regular season Going 4–0 to open the season, they were ranked 18th on February 27, 2012, by Perfect Game. 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. 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.
SEC Tournament 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.USA Today/ESPN College Baseball Coaches’ Poll – June 26 SS Adam Frazier is the Tournament MVP. Frazier, OF Demarcus Henderson, and P Jonathan Holder make the All-Tournament team.Diamond Dogs Finish Incredible Run; Down Vandy For SEC Tourney Crown 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. Holder, in 4 games, has 3 saves and 1 win, giving up 0 runs.
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.College Top 25: May 28
NCAA tournament 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).Four Diamond Dogs Earn All-Tournament Team Honors
After the post season ends, going 1–2 in the NCAA tournament, they are ranked as high as 22nd by Baseball America.Final 2012 College Top 25
Season Awards 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.Nick Routt, Kendall Graveman Selected In MLB Draft He only committed 1 error in 89.2 innings pitched. SEC Coaches' All-Defensive Team.Simply the best 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.Jonathan Holder Named To Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team SEC Coaches' All-Freshman Team.Simply the best NCBWA Freshman All-American Team.2012 NCBWA Freshmen All-American Team Released Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American. Baseball America's Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team.Freshmen All-Americans Perfect Game Freshman All-American. RHP Chris Stratton went 11–2 with a 2.38 ERA with 127 strikeouts and 25 base-on-balls in 109.2 innings. He was the first Consensus All-American for Mississippi State since Will Clark in 1985.Chris Stratton: MSU's First Consensus All-American Since 1985 C Spire Ferris Trophy for the best college baseball player in the state of Mississippi.Mississippi State's Chris Stratton wins Ferriss Trophy Southeastern Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year.Simply the best Consensus All-American. American Baseball Coaches Association All-American Baseball America All-American Collegiate Baseball All-American National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-American
MLB draft 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 MarlinsRoutt, Graveman and 2 Bulldog signees taken in final day of '12 MLB Draft NOTE: Kendall Graveman will not sign, finishes his senior year at Mississippi State and then goes in the 8th round the next year.Three More Diamond Dogs Drafted In First 10 Rounds
Ranking movements
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
Coaches
Name Title First season at MSU Alma materJohn CohenHead coach2009Mississippi State University (1990)Butch ThompsonAssociate Head Coach2009Birmingham Southern (1992)Lane BurroughsAssistant coach2009Mississippi College (1995)
Players # 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 # 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 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