1989 baseball season...

[MedDawg]

We played an exhibition game vs the Jackson Mets and beat them 14-1. So the 1989 team started 30-6, not 31-6.

We played a lot of games against division II or lower teams like Delta State and Belhaven.

State played several games in Hawaii, I think timed for spring break.

We played a 3-game series between the SEC tourney and the NCAA regional? Crazy.

State was ranked #1 in the country going into the regionals.


See the schedule below:
View attachment 12685View attachment 12686View attachment 12689View attachment 12688

 

[Shmuley]

54-14. No CWS. Very disappointing.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

This is the season they "borrowed" some lava rock from the Hawaii trip, correct?

 

[Nama Carl]

This is the danger of a loaded lineup and iffy pitching/defense. One pitcher can come along and shut you down.

That said, this is not the same sort of team. These same guys made that run last year and have experience on the biggest stage. 1989 was still living in the shadow of 1985.

 

[maroonmania]

That 89 team had the best 1-9 batting order I ever remember us having. Team batting average was like in the .340s I believe. Of course that was a time with livelier bats. I would say this year's lineup is right there with the '89 team in terms of offense. As great as the '85 team was it had a very weak bottom end of the batting order. Frank Davis(SS), John Scott(3B) and Roark McDonald(C) didn't exactly strike fear in opposing pitchers.

 

[Xenomorph]

One thing about playing Delta State in 1989..

That was a lot better competition than this band of crusty jugglers we invited to Dudy Noble tonight.

 

[biscuit.sixpack]

Can't remember that pitcher for UNC that shut us down, but he was lights out that night. We ran out of pitching by the end of the regional.

 

[Shmuley]

Michael 17n Hoog pitched out of his mind to beat us 2-1. And then Thoden closed us out in the last game. And then I defecated in a final salute to the travesty that was the '89 team's flameout.

 

[KingBarkus]

That lsu series was interesting. Played in Baton Rouge in the days of the 7 inning DH's. MSU was #1, lsu #2 going into the weekend. You can imagine the excitement and fan interest. Lsu put people ON THE FIELD after marking off a line in foul territory where fans could sit. Cohen won both games with his bat beating Ben McDonald in one game. The next day we got crushed.

 

[Dawgzilla]

This is the season they "borrowed" some lava rock from the Hawaii trip, correct?

I don't know whether they took any rocks in 1989, but they definitely did in 1985. The '85 team lost their last couple of games in Hawaii after taking the rocks, and then got swept at Auburn when they came back.

The warmup series before the Regionals were kind of popular back then. I had a Summer job in Jackson and went to all three games.

 

[fishwater99]

This team should have won that Regional, that first loss to UNC was the back breaker...

 

[Nama Carl]

This team should have won that Regional, that first loss to UNC was the back breaker...

Same thing happened in 2003. Thanks Polk.

 

[wtw2400]

54-14. No CWS. Very disappointing.

He couldn't win the CWS with Raffo and Clark. There was 0 reason to think he ever had the brains to win one. And this was the beginning of the end of his career.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

That's an interesting schedule. The things you mentioned, plus the fact that we played so many midweek games in between SEC weekend series. I also don't see a 3 game series against Ole Miss. Just the one game at the beginning of the year and the one in Jackson. Was it the Mayors Trophy back then?

Also of note: The SEC schedule starts earlier in the season than the current one.

 

[philduckworth]

That was a lot better competition than this band of crusty jugglers we invited to Dudy Noble tonight.

Yeah, I mean we really need to stop playing the Grambling's, Ms Valley's, and Texas Southern's. I know there are a bunch of good teams with better RPI's that would love to play on our field. We have the worst SOS of any team in the Top 10 RPI.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

We play 5 SWAC teams this year. I don't mind playing 1 or 2 each season, but 5 is too many. It hurts our SOS and it does us no good for either team to go out there and pound them into submission on a Tuesday. There are too many average teams around our area. if we drop an extra midweek game or two because we play better competition, I'm fine with that.

I'd like to see us replace these games with more of the Samford/UNO/Troy/Memphis/LA Tech type teams. There's no shame in playing Memphis twice a year in a midweek game, once at their place and once at ours. We went to Samford this year and that was a good win for us. Why not play them at home in place of one of these SWAC teams? Or maybe do one or two more in Jackson? We also need to do more games on the coast.

 

[$altyDawg]

Absolutely did. We lost the first meeting, and was up 6-2 late in the 2nd game and Papelbon couldn't close it out. UNC's left fielder hit two HR's after receiving much hell from behind the fence.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

That season was such a bummer. But good pitching beats good hitting every time. And UNC had good pitching. But you can bet they were cheating back then too!

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

That was one of the first times I remember being really mad because of MSU sports. Unfortunately it would not be the last time.

 

[8dog]

I think it was 7-2. Paps ultimately gives up a bomb to make it 7-7. Next guy up hits it out too but joseph hunter brought it back. Not pitching maholm was a travesty but that unc team was really good. Beginning of mike fox’s huge run and no one knew it

 

[SWFLDawg]

I was in 5th year architecture school in Jackson and went to that Jackson Mets game, walked over from the R and D center. We threw a midweek starter and the Mets played their regular lineup and we throttled them. I didn't realize the level that College baseball had come to vs. the minors until that game.

 

[HarveyDogMan]

That's an interesting schedule. The things you mentioned, plus the fact that we played so many midweek games in between SEC weekend series. I also don't see a 3 game series against Ole Miss. Just the one game at the beginning of the year and the one in Jackson. Was it the Mayors Trophy back then?

Also of note: The SEC schedule starts earlier in the season than the current one.

The last two games of the Ole Miss series were rained out. If I remember correctly, we were down big in the second game before it was called.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Prolly less than 10% of NCAA schools even took baseball somewhat seriously then compared to the 25-30% that take it seriously now....

 

[$altyDawg]

I remember Hunter robbing that homer. One of the most awesome plays I've ever seen. If I remember correctly, the UNC left fielder's name was Shawn Farrell, or at least something reasonably close to that. Hell, that was 16 years ago. I'm lucky to remember who we played. LOL

 

[patdog]

Same thing happened in 2003. Thanks Polk.

Yep. But by gosh, Paul Malholm beat Middle Tennessee in that first game. So glad we used him in a game against the #4 seed when we scored 10 runs.

 

[RutherfordBHayes]

Best team we ever had

 

[patdog]

Maybe. We've had several teams that could have won a national title. One that people forget is the 83 team. Won the SEC West over Alabama which finished #2 at the CWS. Got sent to a loaded Texas team with 4 or 5 pitchers who made the majors, including Roger Clemens and Bruce Ruffin in the regional. Only team to beat Texas in the postseason, but ran out of pitching and lost twice in the regional finals. 84, 85 and 13 teams are also in the conversation.