DIAMOND NOTES

2007 Danville Dan (Mississippi State, Ricky Bowen, has been promoted to the Dayton Dragons (Midwest League Class A) in the Reds organization.

From Baseball America - For the second straight day Thursday, the Tigers got encouraging signs that their pitching is on the mend—which seems to be helping the defending national champions rediscover their missing swagger. LSU continued its resurgence with a 7-5 win against Vanderbilt behind eight strong innings from starter Austin Ross,Danville Dan 2008.

Ross allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven over eight-plus innings, and held Vandy hitless from the third through the eighth.
Head Coach Paul Mainieri: "The kid is a dominating pitcher except for that one inning when he seems to give up multiple runs, but you just never know when that inning's going to happen. Usually it happens in the fourth or the fifth, today it was the second. But I really didn't fault him all that much. They hit the ball. It wasn't like he was walking batters. I thought the kid showed a lot, he kept challenging hitters . . . He wasn't trying to nibble too much, and I think he really was very, very aggressive, and even his slider, he had good depth on his slider, he was keeping it down and he was throwing it for strikes too. I just think he was masterful tonight. I think he pitched as well as he possibly can tonight."

Mainieri: "Ross was really phenomenal. I mean, he was the story of the game. I was just saying how much fun it is to get good starting pitching. It allowed us to be very aggressive offensively—the hit-and-run, trying to take extra bases.

The SEC Tournament continues today.

BOWEN INKS WITH REDS

Dans alumni Ricky Bowen (2007 - Miss State) has signed with the Cincinnati Reds organization and will report to their Billings Montana (Pioneer League) team. Bowen was selected by the Reds in the 43rd round of this year's player draft.

BOWEN NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Mississippi State sophomore right-hander Ricky Bowen (Dans 07’) made his SEC start a memorable one last Sunday. The Jasper, Ala., native delivered a complete-game, two-hit shutout of fifth-ranked Mississippi in the final game of the SEC season-opening weekend series between the Bulldogs and Ole’ Miss. Bowen came within an out of nailing down a no-hitter.

For his exploits, he has been honored as the SEC Pitcher of the Week and Collegiate Baseball newspaper’s Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week.

Bowen retired the first 14 UM batters and faced one batter over the minimum with 10 strikeouts through eight innings. He finished the 9th with an MSU staff season-high 11 strikeouts.

Bowen is one of 36 Dans Alumni from Mississippi State. In 2008, MSU will be represented on the Dans by: Michael Busby (IF/RHP), Forrest Moore (1B/RHP), and Paxton Pace (P/IF).

DANS HONORED FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

This fall, the Mississippi State Baseball team lead all other men’s teams with a composite grade point average of 3.23. Three Danville Dans, Jet Butler (2007), Nick Hardy (2005-2006), and Andy Wilson (2004), were among the 7 players attaining a perfect 4.0. They were joined by Jason Nappi (2007), named to the President’s Scholar list, and Ricky Bowen (2007), earning Dean’s Scholar honors. Great job Dans!